To the editor:

SMSU employees are facing job losses and essential campus services are going to be cut. AFSCME local 2385 was notified that the SMSU administration had a plan that would lay off two full-time employees, reduce another to part-time, and reduce the post office to half-day. Administration is supposed to operate in good-faith with our union by including us in the planning stages and yet new positions have already been created based on these proposals. The decision was made before conversations began.We met with administration and raised serious concerns on how these changes will affect the campus community. To summarize these, we questioned the lack of workload analysis, unclear effectiveness or cost savings of these changes, and failure to consider the negative impact on students, staff, and faculty.

In response, we were told it would work, but not shown how.

Let us be clear: on paper, it may seem logical. In action, the savings are minimal; the consequences are not. The salaries of these positions are equivalent to roughly 12% of the cabinet’s total salary. The duties of these positions will not disappear but added on to the backs of the lowest paid employees creating unmanageable workloads. A 2023 economic report credits SMSU with generating $286.5 million in regional economic impact and supporting over 2,000 jobs. That impact is not abstract; it is the direct result of the work performed everyday by dedicated staff, including the very positions now slated for cuts. If organizational effectiveness is the goal, eliminating the people who keep the organization running is an odd place to start. Our work cannot be replaced, and our jobs should be protected. Without the staff who make this campus function, ‘student-centered’ is just branding.

AFSCME Local 2385 E-Board

Jen Swanson, Cathryn Sleiter, Jorun Ahamnn, Jamie Leonard, Abbie Boelter, Caitlyn Sanow-Minett, Chris Cauwels, Matthew Vahlsing