AMHERST — Union members at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will gather today to protest a move they say threatens jobs and benefits.
The school says it is forced to restructure its Advancement Division to comply with employment laws, after finding that affected employees spend more than a quarter of their time fundraising, which is not allowed.
Union members allege that the administration has misled employees about the change in their status, a claim the school denies.
“Our members have been given false and misleading information, making them think that their state retirement benefits were in jeopardy unless their jobs could be transferred from the university to a private employer,” Leslie Marsland, president of the University Staff Association, said in a statement.
“While threatening that years of accrued pension service by employees could be at risk, administration officials pushed their plan to move more than 100 state positions in the Advancement Division to the private UMAF,” she said, a reference to the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation.
The staff association and the Professional Staff Union filed unfair labor practices complaints Feb. 28 with state Department of Labor Relations against the university, contending that UMass bargained in bad faith.
Members plan a protest today at the school’s Whitmore Administration Building, at 181 Presidents Drive, beginning at 12:45 p.m.
In a recent letter to the Massachusetts State Retirement Board, an...
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