Stop Treating Your Workers Unfairly

We are your friendly facilities and services workers at Clarkson University.

What we're asking for is simple: fairness, respect and a livable wage.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Stop Treating Your Workers Unfairly

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to you in support of Clarkson's unionized Facilities & Services workers who make up CSEA Local 752.

I have reviewed what the workers are asking for in their contract negotiations, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

What does seem unreasonable is Clarkson's "take it or leave it" approach to contract negotiations, and your apparent attempts to bust the union, instead of sitting down at the bargaining table and making an earnest effort to resolve this contract stalemate fairly with your workers.

It is very apparent that Clarkson has the money to afford the workers' reasonable wage proposal, but you lack the will to agree to their offer. Instead, you are risking damaging the University's fine reputation and good name, and for what? The fear of losing some of your power or control?

Clarkson claims to value service, integrity and diligence, but your administration's actions toward your workers do not support those claims. This is not the example I expect a world-class university to be setting for its students, or for our community at large.

I urge you to personally intervene and put an end to the anti-worker tactics, and accept the workers' more than fair contract proposal.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
November 21, 2006

Background Information

What we're asking for is simple...
fairness, respect, and a livable wage increase.

Fairness: We believe it is unfair to impose a 1.5 % wage increase across the board to all University workers, regardless of what they do or how much they earn. 1.5 % for a Professor or Administrator already earning more than $70,000 a year is a great deal more than 1.5 % for most of our members earning an average of $23,400 a year.

Respect: Our struggle really isn't about the money. We formed a union because we wanted a stronger voice in our employment conditions, including the ability to fairly bargain for a better wage increase. We deserve the respect of a true back-and-forth negotiations, not just the University Administration's "take it or leave it" approach, and their efforts to bust our union. We also deserve to be compensated fairly for the hard work we do to maintain our campus and make life better for our entire campus community.

Livable Wage: The average CPI (Consumer Price Index) measurement for the beginning of 2006 was about 4 %. This reflects the generally accepted measurement of how much the cost of living has risen for general consumer costs. The University's paltry offer of 1.5 % is not even half of the inflationary price increases we're all having to pay for things like gasoline, higher energy bills and groceries. When some of our workers are already paid so poorly that they qualify for public assistance, something must be done to redistribute some of the University's wealth down to the lowest-paid workers who truly keep this campus operating.

Our Proposal: We have made a very fair proposal to the Administration, seeking a modest 3 % increase, plus some catch-up hourly increases, that would cost the University about $77,000 (only $40,000 more than their previous offer of $33,000). With the University's reported endowment of $128,501,883 (U.S. News & World Report) we don't consider this extra $40,000 unreasonable -- it would work out to about $400 more per worker. That's reasonable, affordable, and fair.