Staffers at University of Maine Complain They Can Barely Make Ends Meet

How many of these people do you suppose voted for Biden and are now planning to vote for Harris?

News Center Maine reports:

University of Maine System staff say they can barely make ends meetFaculty and staff who work in the University of Maine System are currently working without new labor contracts, and many employees within the system said they are barely able to make ends meet with the pay afforded in their current contracts.With negotiations between UMS and various bargaining units and their unions at a standstill, employees and union representatives said their concerns about wages cannot be ignored.UMS has seven bargaining units. The system’s labor relations staff is concurrently negotiating agreements with four of those units:- The Associated Faculties of the University of Maine System, or AFUM- The Universities of Maine Professional Staff Association, or UMPSA- Associated Clerical Office Laboratory Technical Staff of the Universities of Maine, or ACSUM- The University of Maine Graduate Workers Union, or UMGWA, which is newly formedContracts for the bargaining units that are currently tied up in negotiations expired in June.The UMS Board of Trustees chair spoke Tuesday during a board approval hearing at the legislature.”The high quality of UMS rests on the hard work of dedicated and excellent faculty, staff, and administrators,” Chair Trish Riley said. “Recruiting and retaining personnel is a high priority of the Board, and we know that higher wages would support those efforts.”But despite Riley and other trustees being aware that increased wages would improve retention and overall employee satisfaction, ACSUM President Brian Berger said the board has not come to the negotiation table with an offer that is sufficient or feasible for staff members to survive in this economy.”We feel that it’s important for the taxpayers of Maine and other people to be aware of the situation at the university as a partially publicly funded school,” Berger said.

Tags: College Insurrection, Economy, Maine, Unions

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