Fellow PSU-AAUP members,
With our contract bargaining beginning in the coming days -and administrators referring to on-campus unions as “operational complexities” and demanding deep cuts- it’s important we turnout as many colleagues and campus and community allies as possible for our bargaining kick off rallyand speaking out at Board of Trustees meetings where PSU’s budget is decided.
RSVP Bargaining Kickoff Rally
Wed June 5, 2024 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Smith Park Blocks (Stage area)
RSVP Board of Trustees Finance and Administration meeting
Thurs June 6, 2024 2-4pm Zoom
RSVP full Board of Trustees meeting where the PSU budget will be decided
Friday, June 7th at 9:30am Fariborz Maseeh Hall (FMH) 101 or Zoom
Myself and many of us are struggling with the impacts of understaffing which will only be exacerbated if the administration’s proposed 3% cuts per year and painful program reductions are enacted. Simultaneously, administrators with salaries up to $600,000 per year are raising $284 million in bonds and private philanthropy for new construction on campus.
The number of coworkers that attend will shape our mandate for change at the bargaining table. Let’s make sure all of our departments will be there in force in PSU-AAUP t-shirts. Across ACS and across campus, myself and academic professional colleagues have been organizing listening sessions and PSU-AAUP t-shirt days making sure APs are sufficiently organized to win on our demands in bargaining. You can help make sure your department and job family is similarly organized to win on your issues in just days when bargaining starts.
Imagine the powerful message we could send to austerity-minded administrators if all 1,205 PSU-AAUP eligible faculty, staff, and researchers across campus showed up June 5th for our bargaining kick off rally and for the June 6th and 7th BoT meetings. We, the members, are the union. As members we have real power to shape administrators’ strategic plan before it’s announced.
Feel encouraged to borrow from the success of colleagues in other departments to get ready for the best possible contract:
- Having 1:1 conversations with the flier attached to recruit colleagues to attend
- Sending turnout texts and emails, followed by calendar invites
- Using the end of departmental meetings to make announcements
Together let’s build the turnout sufficient to win the PSU conditions ourselves, our coworkers, and students deserve.
In solidarity,
Cristina Restad
Academic Professional
School of Business
PSU-AAUP VP for Organizing