The MATC Support Staff union, AFSCME Local 587, staged a rally late afternoon on Tue.,  Feb. 4 at the Downtown Milwaukee campus to make their presence known to the MATC Board of Directors in the moments before their district meeting convened. An estimated group of 60 peaceful yet anxious union members and supporters lined the hallway wearing green t-shirts and ribbons to draw the attention of board members making their way to a meeting in which the union hoped would include the approval of a new contract for MATC workers in departments like admissions, custodial and security. The current contract expires early next month.
The sense of urgency for the union’s request had escalated due to previous meetings being canceled because of weather or board member attendance issues. Jeffrey Lang, Local 587 chief steward and MATC building services technician, summed up the union’s position on resolution hopefully coming sooner rather than later. “Our contract ends March 6. The clock is ticking. The hourglass is running dry. All I can say is that the time is now. We don’t need to wait ‘til tomorrow. We need today so we can have a future tomorrow,” Lang commented.
Lang actively handed out printed signs to those assembled. The signs stated the union’s support to the school and requested respect in the form of a contract. Karen Gebhard, 587 member and MATC controller assistant, echoed that call. “We want to be respected. The goal is to be respected as part of this college and to know we are valued as much as the other instructors and administrators at this campus or at this college. We want to be respected and we don’t feel like we are or haven’t been,” Gebhard stated. “With respect comes true negotiations, true dialogue, true communications with us.”
Cindy Konieczki, Local 587 president and MATC printing services, considers the work done by support staffers to be of the utmost importance to the day-to-day operations of MATC. “We make this school work with the jobs we do. That’s important to know. Without us, students can’t register or even get in the building,” Konieczki said.
That sentiment is also firmly held by Kevin Mulvenna, Pre-college Social Science and History instructor and executive vice president of the teachers’ union, AFT Local 212. Mulvenna attended the rally to show his appreciation and support for his coworkers. “The school wouldn’t run without these people. They’re literally the backbone of the institution. As an instructor, I rely on administrative support to get a thousand tasks done routinely. They’re wonderful. They really are,” Mulvenna shared.
Konieczki stated her awareness of the fact that the teachers do have job security in a way the school’s other staff does not. “Local 212, the teachers’ union, has a contract that goes through 2015. All we’re asking for is to be treated equally and that we have a contract that lasts as long,” she said. She suspected that the teacher contract and the current position of the board would bode well for her group. “I have a lot of faith in the board that they will treat us fairly. In the past it hasn’t always seemed that way, but I think this is a pretty fair board and, in light of the fact that Local 212 does have a contract that goes for another year, I think it would be hard not to give us one.”
The boardroom’s maximum occupancy restrictions prevented everyone from witnessing the proceedings firsthand but projection screens in the Cooley Auditorium handled the duty of displaying a video feed of the event live to the overflow crowd. All were encouraged to continue holding up their signs.