By the University Staff Association (USA) Communications Committee

On April 29th, the UMass Amherst community descended on the Haigis Mall to celebrate Founders Day – a fun in the sun event where students, faculty, and staff gathered to celebrate the end of the semester with fun events, free food, lawn games, and showcase events that offered a glimpse of what makes UMass Amherst truly unique. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of your coworkers across the various unions at UMass Amherst.

As both unions’ bargaining teams continue with increasingly contentious negotiations with management at their respective bargaining tables, your colleagues in USA and the Professional Staff Association (PSU) teamed up at a pop-up table to talk to coworkers and students alike about their fights for fair contracts and reasonable wages. University staff had an opportunity to meet coworkers from all corners of campus to discuss how working conditions and pay disparities have evolved over the last several years. It was an opportunity to exchange ideas about how to continue the fight for better working and living conditions for employees. Contract Action Team members shared their experiences at the bargaining table and at recent events that called out management’s willful ignorance of issues on campus.

While colleagues took the opportunity to have productive conversations with colleagues, USA and PSU’s presence was not limited to reaching out to staff.  It was also an opportunity to reach out and hear from interested UMass students, part of a generation identified as the most pro-union generation alive today. Their message to students: your tuition and fees are going up while staff wages are ignored by the University administration.

Students and staff alike were seen walking through the event wearing union-made buttons, stickers, and eating union-made candy.

As the fight for better contracts continues to heat up, your coworkers in USA and PSU need YOU to stand together with your peers. Look out for more opportunities to join your coworkers in the near future! To see more pictures of your USA colleagues in action at the event, be sure to check out PSU’s Instagram.