Take action NOW to win a pay raise for all state and university workers!

Call the members of the Conference Committee (listed below) and tell them:

Hello, my name is _____________ and I’m a state employee. I’m calling to ask Representative/Senator _____________________ to support a real, across-the-board raise for all state and university workers in both years of the biennium. After years without raises, we need at least a $75 a month raise in 2013 and another $75 per month in 2014, and university workers should be included. Thank you.

Sen. Tommy Williams | The Woodlands | 512-463-0104

Sen. Chuy Hinojosa | McAllen | 512-463-0120

Sen. Jane Nelson | Flower Mound | 512-463-0112

Sen. Robert Duncan | Lubbock | 512-463-0128

Sen. John Whitmire | Houston | 512-463-0115

Rep. Jim Pitts | Waxahachie | 512-463-0516

Rep. Sylvester | Turner Houston | 512-463-0554

Rep. John Otto | Dayton | 512-463-0570

Rep. John Zerwas | Fulshear | 512-463-0657

Rep. Myra Crownover | Lake Dallas | 512-463-0582

Latest Pension Developments

Yesterday, Senate Bill 1458 passed out of the Senate. That bill reduced pension benefits for members of TRS while increasing the state and employee contribution rates over time. SB 1458 will now proceed to the House. TSEU members are working closely with AFT (the teacher’s union) and retiree groups to oppose the worst of these cuts.

House Bill 1882 (which affects state agency employees in ERS) will be coming up for a vote today in the House of Representatives. After intense mobilizing efforts on the part of TSEU members across the state, the bill’s author has reduced the impact of the cuts by agreeing to grandfather all current state employees. TSEU members met with legislators in the capitol and generated hundreds and hundreds of phone calls across the state to call on lawmakers to stop the cuts. The latest version of the bill would apply deep cuts to retirement benefits to future employees in ERS, while leaving current employee’s plans unchanged. The bill is expected to pass the House today.

What’s Next?

Once HB 1882 passes and heads to the Senate, we will need keep the pressure on our State Senators to improve the bill. Cutting the retirement benefits of future employees will increase turnover among these workers and hurt the state’s ability to deliver needed services to Texans. High turnover rates are bad for our agencies and universities, and bad for the ERS and TRS funds. When current workers are retired, we need stable and strong pension funds that can provide annuity increases for retirees. This will be less likely with a future workforce that has to work years longer for less benefits. TSEU members will continue to lead the fight to save pension benefits for future state workers.

Pay Raise Fight Continues

In the current budget negotiations taking place in Conference Committee, most state employees would only see a one-time $75/month raise. This amounts to an $900/year raise. After years without any raises at all, this is not enough! We need to build our pressure on legislators for a real, across-the-board raise that will make a difference for front-line state workers and our families.

Union members across the state will take a stand for a flat amount, across-the-board pay raise by signing up at least one new member. Currently, legislators are only discussing a one-time $75 a month raise for state workers for the next two years, and they don’t even include university workers!

After years without any raises at all, this is not enough to keep up with the rising cost-of-living. What’s more, lawmakers are also talking about slashing pension benefits. We need to send a strong message to legislators that state employees need and deserve better, and we’re willing to fight for it. We must grow the union if we’re going to win this fight.

What to do now:

1. Think of three specific coworkers you will ask to join the union on May 1, 2013
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2.  Print off three membership forms
   CLICK HERE to download PDF or find more information on our JOIN page
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3. Have the membership forms and a pen with you when you speak to your coworkers
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4. Tell them about the pay raise fight and why you joined the union. There is strength in numbers. Ask them to fill out the form and join the union right away!
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5. Upon signing up a new member, mail the completed membership form to the Austin TSEU office (the address is on the top of the form). Contact Seth Hutchinson at shutchinson@cwa-tseu.org to let us know the application is on the way.

We are a delegation of Texas State Employees Union workers who have come to the Capitol today to register more than 4000 hand gathered and hand signed petitions from Texas citizens.  We’re going to register these with the House and Senate Committees on Higher Education.  We ask that the petitions immediately be entered into the public record.  In addition, we will deliver stacks to the Appropriations Committees. 

The Petition calls on state legislators to restore all of the 2011 cuts to higher education funding and to further the education of all Texans by increasing funding of public education. The devastating cuts from last session have resulted in layoffs, downsizing, and privatization schemes that attempt to hide the failure of the legislature to develop the revenue streams necessary to sustain education in a state the size of Texas. 

TSEU calls for inclusion of university employees in an across-the-board, flat amount pay raise with no cuts to health care and pension benefits.  University workers have not had a state legislated pay raise in over 10 years since the passage of SB 1652 in 2003 which made all pay raises for university workers dependent on a so-called merit system which creates even greater income disparities among workers.  As a result, university workers are some of the lowest paid state workers.

As an instructional worker at the University of Texas – Austin and an elected member of the executive board of TSEU, I want to stress several deep concerns.

The first is the Accenture driven Business Productivity Initiative at our university with an estimated 25% downsizing of staff; privatization of custodial workers and food service workers; sale of student housing, food services, and parking with increases for students to commercial rates; and commercialization of research.  We believe that community input is badly needed before any of these changes proposed by Accenture and other outsourcing and privatization corporations are implemented.  The Legislature should stand with us in this demand.

Second, we are deeply concerned about the proposed changes to our TRS pensions.  These changes increase employee contributions.  They raise the age of retirement with full benefits. Those pensions and benefits are vital to the health and very existence of thousands of Texans now and in the future.  We stand united in opposition to austerity.

Finally the Legislature must understand the depth of our union’s commitment to public higher education and to university workers, which includes the whole university community from students to faculty to lab technical staff, groundskeepers, custodial workers, and librarians.   We will be here over and over again until this legislature fulfills the mandates of the State Constitution: “The Legislature shall establish, organize and provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a university of the first class.”  It’s time to stop the attacks on public higher education and the assault on workers at our public universities.

Upon entering the Capitol, the TSEU delegation delivered the Fund Our Future petition to the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Higher Education via Chairman Dan Branch’s staff.  After delivering the petition at Chairman Branch’s office, the TSEU delegation delivered the petition at the office of the Senate Committee on Higher Education.  Letters accompanying the petition to Chairman Dan Branch and Chairman Kel Seliger urged them to carefully consider entering the Fund Our Future petition into the public record.  Next, the TSEU delegation split into two teams and delivered the petition to lawmakers involved in the state budget process.  In all, 20 more copies of the Fund Our Future petition were delivered to legislators who are serving on the Budget Conference Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Appropriations Committee.

What to do next?

1. Sign Up a Co-Worker- In order to keep pressure on lawmakers to use some of the billions of dollars in available revenue to make an investment in higher education, it is imperative that the organized voice of university workers continues to grow.  A great time to begin will be this Wednesday, May 1st [International Workers’ Day] which is an “Each One, Reach One” day of action to build the strength of the union. CLICK HERE to download a membership form
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2. Join COPE- University Caucus members need to continue to build our political muscle in order to strengthen our voice in the legislature. TSEU’s Committee on Political Education is a powerful tool that can generate political will in Austin to make investments in public higher education a high priority. CLICK HERE to download a COPE membership form
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3. Continue to Share the FUND OUR FUTURE Petition Online- The TSEU university caucus is committed to reaching our goal of 1000 online signatures before the end of the 83rd legislative session.  Continuing to share the Fund Our Future petition via email and social media to generate more signatures will keep sustained pressure on lawmakers and make a difference in higher education funding talks during the Budget Conference Committee.  CLICK HERE to link to and sign the petition online.

What do they want to do?

• Introduce Health Savings Accounts

• Increase what we pay for benefits

• Raise the age when we can retire with full benefits

• All this while our pay hasn’t increased in 4 years, and the pay raise being discussed is already too small and doesn’t even include university workers! Texas can afford a real pay raise and to keep our benefits intact.

1. Join the union!

If you’re already a member, ask a coworker to join. CLICK HERE to download a membership form

2. Join COPE!

We need to grow our political muscle if we’re going  to have a strong voice for state employees in the legislature. CLICK HERE to download a COPE membership form.

3. Call your legislators, tell them:

Hello, my name is _________________ and I’m calling to ask Representative / Senator_________ to support an across-the-board, flat amount pay raise for all state and university employees with no cuts to our health care and pension benefits.

CLICK HERE to locate your elected officials using your home address.

• restore the 2011 cuts to higher education funding

• stop the privatization of our public universities,

• include university workers in a state employee pay raise

TSEU members from around the state will be calling our legislators to let them know that Texas needs to Fund Our Future.  A collection of thousands of signatures from the Fund Our Future petition will be delivered to the Texas House and Senate higher education committees at the Texas State Capitol by TSEU activists while more signatures are accumulating on the online petition.

TSEU is calling on state legislators to restore all of the 2011 cuts to higher education funding and to invest in our future by further increasing funding to adjust for student enrollment growth.  Texas has the money and should invest in higher education, which is the engine for the future Texas economy.   The devastating cuts from last session have resulted in an epidemic of layoffs and privatization schemes that are being touted as a solution to make up for lost state revenue.  State legislators should oppose the privatization of our public universities.  TSEU is further calling on state legislators to include university employees in an across-the-board, flat amount pay raise with no cuts to health care and pension benefits.  University workers have not had a state legislated pay raise in over 10 years since the passage of SB 1652 (2003) which deferred the responsibility of pay raises to university budget makers.  The resulting merit-based pay raise system has left most front-line university workers with stagnant wages which are no longer competitive.   State legislators should find a way to include university workers in an across-the-board pay raise.

What to do now:

1. Sign the Fund Our Future Petition Online!
   CLICK HERE

2. Join the union! If you’re already a member, ask a coworker to join.
   CLICK HERE to download a membership form

3. Join COPE! We need to grow our political muscle if we’re going  to have a strong voice for state employees in the legislature.
   CLICK HERE to download a COPE membership form

4. Call your legislators, tell them:

Hello, my name is _________________ and I’m calling to ask Representative / Senator_________ to actively work to increase funding for higher education, to oppose the privatization of our public universities, and to support including university workers in an across-the-board, flat amount pay raise with no cuts to health care and pension benefits.

CLICK HERE  |  Locate elected officials with your home address

For a full re-cap of all the activities, go to the LOBBY DAY EVENT PAGE

We also have pictures and story blurbs posted on FaceBook.  CLICK HERE to link to our page. Don’t forget to ‘LIKE’ us while you are there.

Why are universities looking to contract out more work? So they can reduce costs by shedding employee salary, health care, and retirement benefits.  Dumping dedicated public servants in favor of hired contractors who employ workers at lower wages with minimal benefits is a haphazard response, albeit to a difficult problem.  University budget makers have been dealing with the systemic problem of decreases in state funding for decades but this problem was exacerbated in 2011 when the legislature cut nearly $1 billion in higher education funding.  Instead of spending this session proposing privatization schemes, university administrators could be joining the call to restore state funding to our university budgets.  With or without them, TSEU is leading the charge to restore the 2011 cuts with our Fund Our Future campaign.  Instead of putting the squeeze on frontline university employees, decision makers in Austin should be feeling the heat for slashing funding for higher education.

They Say Privatize – We Say Organize

The privatization of Texas’ public universities can be stopped by organizing, mobilizing, and working with our allies in our university communities to make our voices heard in the Capitol and on our campuses. On every campus where a privatization scheme is announced, it is critical that we respond swiftly by signing up new TSEU members and asking co-workers to get on the Lobby Day bus, especially in at-risk departments.  We can’t win this fight without dramatically increasing our university membership and having a massive university employee presence at the Capitol. Get involved, take a stand, and be at Lobby Day on Wednesday, April 10th!

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