AFSCME 3800 invites our members and other concerned staff, students, and faculty to join us on Wednesday, June 24 to plan a campaign to stop layoffs and defend the landgrant mission of the U.

Last week, President Bruininks announced his intention to eliminate 1240 jobs at the University. This includes people who took RIO and some attrition. However, it will also include a significant amount of layoffs. Frontline staff have already had our positions cut to the bone. Cutting more frontline staff will jeopardize the academic mission of the U, result in minimal savings given our salaries, and will increase the workload for people who are already doing the jobs of multiple people.

The administration's recent message of "either we raise tuition astronomically or we lay off a large number of staff" is a false dichotomy and serves to pit frontline staff against students. Clerical workers are not the problem. Our salaries have remained stagnant while the number of vice-deans, vice-provosts, and vice-presidents has risen dramatically. The budget is not a zero sum game between students and frontline staff, with upper level administration remaining inviolate.  Lower paid employees have  already made their sacrifices, and continue to do so, especially now with the cut to the Regents Scholarship.

While we have seen frontline jobs eliminated, senior administration positions and salaries have ballooned. There are 254 U employees making over $200,000 per year. If they took a 5% pay cut, the U would save over 3 million dollars. If the U got rid of 10% of the top administrative positions, over $7 million would be saved. If the goal is to reduce salary expenditures without shortchanging students, they should eliminate bloated salaries and unnecessary administrative positions. Chop from the top!