If money talks, the faculty and staff at the University of Massachusetts hope their funny money will carry a loud message.  During the holiday shopping season, unions from three of the five campuses in the UMass system printed and circulated more than 100,000 "Bulger bucks."  The "currency," named after UMass President William Bulger, reads "This note is worthless until the state honors its commitment to its employees." 

"We’ve had very tough times lately," Dan Georgianna, president of the UMass Faculty Federation/AFT at the Dartmouth campus, said.  "We are going into the last year of a contract without funding.  We just needed some fun in these dire times."

While the "bucks" may have brought a little cheer into the lives of the disgruntled UMass faculty members, the message is no laughing matter.

For UMass workers, the past year has been challenging.  In June, UMass faculty had to scramble to redistribute class assignments when a large percentage of their professors accepted enticing early retirement packages offered by the state.  To make matters worse, the professors who assumed these additional classes received no compensation for the significant increase in their workload.  And then, in late July, 13,200 employees in the state's public colleges and universities received a direct blow when former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift vetoed a $29.6 million item in the university budget. That money was to honor the contracts her administration had negotiated with the unions representing faculty, administrators and support staff. 

The union’s biggest outrage, and the driving force for the development of the "bucks," was the result of Bulger’s reaction, or lack thereof, to Swift’s veto.  UMass workers had hoped that Bulger, a former Massachusetts state Senate president, would use his pull to persuade the heavily Democratic Legislature to override the Republican governor’s veto.  Bulger’s silence was seen as a direct betrayal to UMass faculty and staff.

The "Bulger bucks" are part of a series of actions taken by the UMass Faculty Federation in coalition with other UMass unions in the last year to express their outrage.   The "bucks" have received the reaction Georgianna hoped for--gaining attention and raising consciousness about the unfair sacrifice the hardworking employees of the university are making.

Lawmakers laughed as the "bucks" were distributed.  At a recent Massachusetts legislative breakfast.  However, the message the money sent was clear.  The "bucks" feature the faces of Swift, Bulger, and House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who as speaker of the overwhelming Democratic House was in a strong position to push for an override vote of Swift’s veto.

In December, the 800-member UMass Faculty Federation developed creative ways to distribute the dollars and spread their message.  Some people enclosed a few "Bulger bucks" in their holiday greeting cards while others left several on the table after paying a dinner bill.

The group’s next action is a demonstration at the board of trustees meeting Feb. 12, 2003.  [Brooke Boeglin]

[February 5, 2003]