Also, Click here to sign a petition online to the Regents!

Or you can click here to print out a copy of the petition sheet to sign and to use in your work area

Rally Thursday, March 12
12:15-1:00
McNamara Plaza

(click above image for printable PDF of flyer)

On Thursday, March 12, 2009 the Faculty, Staff and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Regents will consider an Administration proposal that will require employees who wish to take a class at the University through the Regents Scholarship to pay 25% of the tuition for that class. The committee will meet from 2:45-4:15, and it’s important that they hear from employees before they take action to cut this program. AFSCME 3800, AFSCME 3937 and other concerned employees and students are organizing a rally and speak-out to demand that the Board of Regents not cut the scholarship program.

Given the alarming tuitions rates here at the U, and the decreasing buying power of our wages, this is yet another slash in our ever-shrinking benefits package. Unionized staff at the University, whether AFSCME or Teamster, are among the lowest paid employees of this institution, and this proposal will fall heavily on us. 71% of the staff who use Regents Scholarships is unionized and civil service employees. We cannot afford to have the University budget balanced on the backs of hard-working employees.

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE REGENTS! If you think this is an unacceptable proposal, let the Regents know. Come to the rally on Thursday! Bring your coworkers! Listen to what students, faculty, P&A, civil service and union employees have to say about the wonderful benefits of the Regents Scholarship, how it has changed lives, and how devastating the proposed cut will be.

We are also collecting signatures on a petition that we will deliver to the Regents following the Rally. Click here to print out a copy of the petition sheet to sign and to use in your work area. Bring copies of the petition to the rally on Thursday.