The band was playing, the crowd was rocking, there was plenty of food and various performance groups were providing entertainment. The Chancellor, the Governor and the
President of UMass were all in attendance. It was a grand celebration as the founding of the University of Massachusetts Amherst was recognized at the Fine Arts Center on the 29th of April.
However, being somewhat hidden within all the celebration was an underlying issue that has been ongoing between union members, who were also in attendance, and school leaders.
According to Bob Paynter, a professor in the Anthropology department and a member of the Massachusetts Society of Professors, there are two major issues that need to be dealt with.
“The issues at hand are fair compensation for faculty, staff and all other members on campus and the need to increase faculty to a reasonable level so students have a shot of graduating in four years because the right classes are available,” he said.
According to their flier, most of the unions on campus have been bargaining for several months, with virtually no movement from President Wilson’s office. In the flier, it stated that over the past four years, faculty
and staff have taken low but steady cuts in pay, as the cost of living has been rising. This puts UMass faculty and staff behind competitors and various public research universities across the country.
Early on in his tenure as Governor, Deval Patrick promised to be a “champion for public higher education.” He has taken the heat for proposing an increase in the cost of health insurance premiums, however Paynter has confidence in Patrick.
“The governor is going to have a say but he hasn’t had his say yet,” Paynter said, “He’s the best governor we have had
in my past 30 years on campus. I’m very optimistic.”
Patrick admitted that more work needs to be done.
“We have worked to do to reduce the burden of mandatory fees for all of you who are students,” he said to a crowd of high school students, UMass students and faculty. “We have work to do
to increase number and compensation of full time faculty. I don’t have all those answers yet, but we do intend to work in partnership because I know, you know, the world knows that education transforms us.”
Painter hopes their presence at the Founders Day event will have a positive effect on future negotiations.
“We want to let people know what the issues are,” he said. “The President of the union shook the governors hand and they said they needed to keep working on this.”
Lets just hope this handshake is a foreshadowing of what is to come.
Credits:
Text: Tyler Depina
Video: Steve Games
Audio Slideshow: Pamela Lawn
Audio: Solmaaz Yazdiha
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