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What we believe. First and foremost, we believe we are being treated unfairly. The negotiations process should be about give and take -- from both sides. But in Clarkson Administration's view, that means it's all about what they will give us, and what we must take. That's not right and it's not fair. Their wage offer continues to be a firm 1.5 %, take it or leave it. They refuse to budge or offer a penny more, even though our union membership overwhelmingly voted to reject their offer. They say it's only fair that we get what everyone else got. We believe their definition of fairness is seriously flawed (see what we're asking ). We believe our fight is NOT about money or health insurance costs. Clarkson University has never cried poverty to us at the bargaining table. They claim that paying our health insurance is why their wage offer is so low. We don't believe that for a minute. Prior to our members voting down their miniscule wage offer, the issue of health insurance costs was never discussed. If it had been, we were prepared to offer some money-saving alternatives, such as a prescription drug importation option that could have saved thousands of dollars (likely more than enough to offset the cost of the fair wage increase we've proposed) and expert safety training at no cost to the University. Clarkson also has more than enough money for the projects it supports, especially given their $128,501,883 endowment (source: U.S. News & World Report). To put this into perspective, we offer the following comparison: The difference between the University's wage offer and what we are
asking for is about $40,000.
We believe workers at a prestigious institution like Clarkson University should not have to beg, especially when $40,000 more will not break Clarkson's piggy bank. Instead, we believe Clarkson's real intent is to break the union. Why else are they reportedly spending more than $400 an hour on a notoriously anti-union law firm to fight against their own workers? The truth is, from the first time we even talked about forming a union, Clarkson University fought us every step of the way. They continue to do so, in the hopes that they can divide us and bust the union. They fear that if one group of workers are successfully empowered with the ability to reject their insulting wage offer, and can get a better wage increase, then other workers will want to do the same. Then they lose some of their power, and they don't want to give that up. We believe they won't give up fighting us unless they feel the heat from our entire campus community. If we are going to be successful, we will need everyone who supports our struggle to get involved and put pressure on our University Leadership to come back to the table and ditch their unfair "take it or leave it" approach. Here's how
you can support us. |
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