Scrappy Battlers
Members go toe to toe with campus administrators during negotiation bout.
By Jimmie Turner
MARYLAND
Like well-schooled boxers, union activists from Maryland's colleges and universities have backed their trustees into a corner. Weakened by the assault, administrators are set up for a knockout punch to the head.
The fight: to get the University of Maryland system's decision makers to bargain in good faith without laying off workers and hiking tuition costs. In 2001, university employees won collective bargaining and quickly started organizing. By the end of 2002, more than 6,000 employees from 12 of Maryland's 15 campuses had formed unions with AFSCME Council 92.
Since then, the Board of Regents has attempted to lowball members during first-contract negotiations, using layoffs as a handy means of balancing the budget. Meanwhile, activists have systematically fought back by giving managers sensible and workable alternatives to job cuts.
AVOIDING 'PINK.' In a number of vocal "actions," members and their supporters have challenged regents at every meeting where the budget has been discussed. When management announced that 300 workers could be given pink slips, unionists countered-punched by suggesting that it eliminate overlapping management jobs or limit salary increases for the highest-paid administrators. When management also threatened to raise tuition to excessive levels, labor advocates parked a U-Haul on the front yard of Pres. Dan Mote's home, which is paid for by the university system, and posted a "For Sale" sign.
In August, the College Park administrator succumbed to a barrage of criticism and revised job cuts downward from 300 to 100 or less, revealing that they had found $10 million stashed away in reserves. Council 92 members' response: Halt all layoffs, and rehire the 70-odd workers already dismissed.
In a surprising twist, Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) sided with the union. Perhaps for his own political objectives, he acted as perplexed as anyone about the decision to lay off lower-level workers, and said that he wanted middle-manager positions axed: "Do you get rid of two janitors who perform a very important function, or a middle manager who may or may not be essential to the operation?" Ehrlich told The Diamondback, a campus publication. "That's the same question AFSCME had, the same question I have."
Heather Rivas, a pink-slipped administrative assistant, told the school newspaper: "I'm only making $23,000 a year. If they're really trying to lay people off for budgetary reasons, how does my $23,000 make an impact?"
That's expecially true because the state comptroller recently released figures showing a year-end budget surplus of $122 million.
In addition, two members — who work at Bowie State University and the University of Maryland/Eastern Shore — were reinstated after AFSCME proved that they were fired in retaliation for their active roles in union efforts.
