The UMass community has not been spared the impacts —from illness to economic loss —of the coronavirus pandemic. But the unions representing staff, faculty and students across the UMass campuses believe that if all of the partners in the system stand together, UMass will emerge from this current crisis stronger.

As partners in this eventual success, we're asking our state legislators to do the following:

1. Write our congresspeople and ask them to help pass a relief bill that will provide the robust funding needed to keep our public higher education institutions intact.
2. Contact UMass President Marty Meehan, and Chair of the Board of Trustees Robert Manning, and urge them to comply with the “maintenance of effort” in the CARES act by utilizing non-personnel cost saving measures to address budgetary concerns, and to maintain existing employment appointments for staff, faculty and students. The savings yielded by reducing the employment does not justify the economic impact on the individuals affected by such cuts, nor will putting more UMass faculty, staff, and students on unemployment benefit the economy—keep them in jobs.

The COVID-19 pandemic cannot force us to change our goal of being a thriving, accessible, world-class center for excellence in education, research, scholarship, and service, as well as an economic and social-mobility engine for the Commonwealth and a model employer. As we all know, one of the best investments a society can make is in the education of its people. To revive our economy, it will be crucial for the state, with federal assistance, to support the jobs, facilities, and services that make up our public sector and particularly the higher education system.