RISD Techs Hold Protest Over School’s Refusal to Negotiate
Thursday, April 02, 2015
The RISD Technical Association, NEARI Local 806, held a strike on Thursday morning to protest the administration's refusal to bargain in good faith.
"We are striking because the school is refusing to negotiate with us. We are not looking to get more money, we will keep the same retirement contribution, we just want them to come back to the negotiation table," said RISD Tech President Tucker Houlihan.
In order to try and make the negotiations work, the technicians offered to keep their existing contract which met they would accept the 5% increase in health care cost shifting on them and the 2.25% (3-year average) wage increase.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Our federal mediator, Paul Chabot, advised us to not change the package that they originally implemented. So we accepted what was imposed and just wanted our retirement contribution (8%) written down on paper. The RISD President told us "No," Houlihan said.
The technicians even put a caveat into their offer stating that "should RISD experience an economic crisis, that percentage could be negotiated lower in order to help the school through an economic downturn."
There are 44 techs, both women and men, at RISD that oversee the various studios across the campus, make sure that the equipment is updated and everything is working.
"I want to get back to work, I'm not making any coin doing this," Houlihan added.
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