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Strike update
by lisa kunkel
Statesman staff writer
A press conference was held Monday afternoon concerning a protest in Birmingham, England in support of the strikers in Duluth. Also a rally Wednesday afternoon revealed a number of other new protesters.
UMD maintains a “Study in England” transfer program at the University of Birmingham where UMD administrators and faculty are staying in dormitories on the Selly Oak campus.
The press conference was held at 1 p.m. Monday, the same time as members of Unison and the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Birmingham protested. The Selly Oak campus at Birmingham has become a focus for protests against the UMD administration’s refusal to provide a fair wage to AFSCME employees.
In Duluth, strikers and media personBynel gathered at the picket line at the corner of University Drive and St. Marie Street where Denise Osterholm, president of striking AFSCME Local 3801, and Seamas Cain, of the Community Solidarity committee, answered questions about Birmingham’s protests.
Osterholm also announced updates on the strike’s progress.
“We have 60 percent on the line or staying at home and not crossing the line,” Osterholm said. Osterholm also said that UMD Health Services is still not accepting patients unless they are long-term and that the bookstore remains “chaotic.” “We’re just trying to get the university back to the table,” Osterholm said.
Among those in support of the AFSCME employees, are state representatives Mary Murphy and Tom Rukavina. Murphy and Rukavina recently wrote a protest letter to University of Minnesota president, Robert Bruininks, in support of the strikers.
“We are deeply disappointed that thousands of university employees have been forced into the picket lines due to the unwillingness of the university administration …,” the letter read. “For the first time in many years, the Minnesota legislature provided the university with a generous 3.25 percent salary supplement.
We expected those funds to be used to benefit all University employees.”
Bruininks’ first year raise was $38,000, which is more than the average annual salary of the striking employees, according to the letter.
“Give your employees the increase that they need so that they will continue to be the productive, hard working employees we have come to know and respect at the University of Minnesota,” Rukavina’s letter read.
It was said at Wednesday’s rally that others, too, have shown their support through letters.
State speaker Margaret Kelleher and presidential candidate Barack Obama each recently announced to President Bruininks their disappointment in the administration for not giving working employees fair wages.
Dr. Craig Grau was originally planning on presenting the Michael S. Berman Political Collection donated to the UMD library at Friday’s exhibit opening is refusing to cross the picket line.
Grau and Murphy were also speakers at Wednesday’s rally among many others where a crowd of approximately 90 people gathered on the corner of St. Marie Street and University Drive.
“We have a strike going on here, and this place doesn’t run unless our staff is working,” Grau said.
Duluth City Council Vice President Laurie Johnson was among the speakers.
“I applaud you and your valiant efforts to do the right thing,” Johnson said. “You, standing here today, are the smartest people on campus.”
