PSUMTA

Dedicated to supporting the dignity of the individual, the empowerment of workers, democracy, divers Additionally, PSU represents two bargaining units.

The Professional Staff Union of the University of Massachusetts is a labor union local of professional staff and classified supervisors affiliated with the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) and the National Education Association (NEA), with members on the Amherst and Boston campuses of the University of Massachusetts. We are organized into two chapters, one on each of the two campuses. Unit

A covers professional staff on both campuses, and Unit B covers classified supervisors on the Amherst campus. We are dedicated to supporting the dignity of the individual, the empowerment of workers, democracy, diversity, and the promotion of social justice. General Information

This page is for PSU/MTA members, supporters and all those interested in PSU/MTA. We encourage open discussion and invite you to share your opinions. However, we reserve the right to remove posts which do not adhere to our commenting guidelines, which are as follows:

•No foul, discriminatory, defamatory, libelous or threatening language.
•No invasion of privacy; no racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable language.
•Comments should be on-topic and relevant to the original post.
•No spam, flaming, flooding, misinformation, advertisements or solicitations.
•Do not post material in violation of trademark or copyright laws or other laws.
•No personal attacks.
•No promoting violence, illegal or questionable activities. Requests or questions concerning benefits, grievances or other issues should be raised directly with the relevant steward, delegate, or organizer. Persons who repeatedly violate commenting guidelines may be removed and/or blocked. We follow the community terms and guidelines set forth by Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/policies

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to participating in a productive discussion with our Facebook community.

05/07/2026

In an ironic, but sadly unsurprising, turn of events, Trump’s Department of Education has launched a “civil rights investigation” at Smith College, claiming that it may have violated anti-discrimination laws by enrolling trans women. This is a blatant attack on a vulnerable population of students. Trans women are women. Full stop.

PSU rejects this hate-based investigation and believes that ALL women must have their rights to an education—and privacy—protected.

04/30/2026

Join us for May Day events tomorrow, on campus and in Holyoke!

May Day Fest is tomorrow, May 1, on the Metawampe Lawn from 10am-6pm.

Then, join us for the May Day March in Holyoke-- tomorrow, May 1. Meet at Heritage Park in Holyoke at 4:30pm.

Please join fellow workers and community members as we celebrate International Workers’ Day through solidarity, coalition, and outdoor activities.

04/24/2026

Join PSU along with other UMass unions and student orgs on May 1st, 2026, on the Metawampe Lawn on UMass Amherst campus for May Day Fest. Build power, solidify connections, get politically educated.

The whole event will go from 10am-6pm, jam packed with solidarity activities, but we'll especially highlight:

11am-12pm: .mta, PSU, and members will be presenting a teach-in on the dangers of privatization and management claiming they're broke -- and how we fight back.
12pm-1pm: USA and PSU will be tabling with arts and crafts, zines, and educational resources. Come make a new connection and hang!
1pm-2pm: Solidarity Power Hour, where all orgs will come together in a single event to solidify connections across our movements.

Together we can democratize, decolonize, and demilitarize UMass.

04/13/2026

“The Joint Executive Council of the Professional Staff Union of UMass Amherst and UMass Boston unequivocally condemn the Trump administration’s bombing of Iran and other war crimes committed, under his direction, to harm and further destabilize the Middle East, made possible with military hardware created in part by University of Massachusetts partner corporations.

“As PSU rank-and-file members we therefore call on our fellow workers, the university, and all campus unions to recommit to the anti-war movement.”

Read the full statement from our Joint Executive Council in the slides above.

Imperialism is a union issue. Workers in one place can never be safe while workers are slaughtered elsewhere in their name.

“Unionized workers have leverage and power to oppose war and join calls to democratize UMass so that we all have a voice in the decisions the university makes.”

04/03/2026

URGENT SOLIDARITY ASK! Our neighbors need our help!

South Hadley is facing an “Override Vote” on Tuesday April 14th. If the town votes YES ON BOTH QUESTIONS, the PreK-12 South Hadley school district will gain a crucial $11 mil ng. If the vote doesn’t pass, the district will face up to 20% staff and faculty reductions 😠

Please join our Massachusetts Teachers Association siblings, South Hadley organizers on Saturday morning 4/4 and/or 4/11 @ 9:30am at the South Hadley Public Library to door knock for the campaign. Register at the link in our bio.

03/25/2026

ICE needs hotels to stay in, cars to drive in, planes to deport people on, and data to surveille us. Without corporate cooperation, ICE has no power.

UMass Amherst management contracts with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the primary provider of ICE’s vehicles 🚓 Go to https://tinyurl.com/umassdropice to tell UMass to end that relationship with ICE enablers and DROP ICE by May 1st! ✍️

This is a national campaign with representation from unions across UMass. Our goal is for 20% of PSU Amherst members to sign—that’s about 320 people. Talk to your coworkers 📣 Let’s apply the power we used to shut down merit pay to send a strong message to ICE, and keep flexing the muscles we’ll use to win a truly transformative contract next time around.

Read the Chapter Board’s 1/29/26 statement of solidarity against ICE in the slides above for a bolstering call to action.

03/20/2026

"Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world. It is crucial for a research university with global ambitions to offer the best Arabic instruction to its students. Four-skilled Arabic is the gold standard of Arabic language pedagogy, not just at UMass but across peer institutions." And yet, motivated by racism and xenophobia, our administration seeks to cancel it for so called austerity.

✍️ PSU members and allies, add your name to the cross-constituency letter in our bio (and learn the full context by reading it) to tell the admin no to austerity, yes to supporting our students and faculty!

While antiracism and solidarity with our fellow workers is the only reason we need to support the Arabic program, remember too that our bosses are testing the waters for what other academic, community, and labor repression they can get away with in the coming days. 😤 Let's show them PSU's resounding answer: NONE! 🛑✊
https://shorturl.at/V44fx

03/16/2026

PSU stands in firm solidarity with workers at the Amherst DPW Association. Rally with to help them win a fair contract this Thursday! Tell the town manager that union workers are done with disrespect, low wages, and unsafe working conditions. ADPWA rallied earlier this month, and now they need more solidarity to keep up the pressure on the Amherst Town Manager, Paul Bockelman. Here’s what you can do:

RSVP to the Rally with Amherst DPW Workers (link in bio)
Time: Thursday, 3/19 @ 5:30 pm
Location: Amherst Town Common
Send a letter to the town manager: letter.wmalf.org

Together, we can stand up for one another and build a better Amherst, one fight at a time!

02/27/2026

While we may have won our contract, the broader struggle for fair pay and safe working conditions continues in our community—and now the union representing employees of Amherst’s Department of Works, the ADPWA, needs our help. ADPWA members have been negotiating for over a year and are now seven months past the expiration of their contract (sound familiar?).

Here are all the details:

Rally with Amherst DPW workers!

The Amherst DPW Associations (ADPWA), a union representing roughly 60 Amherst DPW workers, will be conducting a rally outside of Town Hall ahead of the special meeting on the Town Common on 3/2/26 at 6:00 PM.

Amherst Town Council has called the special meeting for Monday, March 2, 2026 at 7:00PM in town hall. The meeting will address issues in DPW, including the fact that ADPWU workers have been working with an expired contract for over seven months, with over a year of ongoing negotiations without a fair contract.

The issues facing the DPW include low wages, with many being below a livable wage. Other problems include: high rates of turnover, low retention rates, and frequent understaffing. Negotiating a fair contract will be beneficial for the town and its residents, resulting in improved retention and service delivery.

Labor family: it’s time to show up for Amherst DPW workers! They keep our streets safe and our communities running—they deserve fair pay and a good contract! Come tell the Town of Amherst to do the right thing.

02/26/2026

For Black History Month, we’re spotlighting a tiny handful of the folks who have made our organizing in PSU possible.

“We got billionaires breaking federal law every day. Every single day a worker gets fired in this country for retaliation, for organizing, or discrimination … Where’s the accountability?”

Chris Smalls is a contemporary labor activist who has spoken to the UMass Labor Center in the past and will be returning to campus to engage with student organizers this month. He is a co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union and played an instrumental role in renewing public interest in labor organizing. In July 2025, he sailed on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in an attempt to break Israel’s American-backed genocidal siege on Palestine, firmly asserting that Palestine is a “working-class issue.” The only Black sailor on that mission, he was singled out by the Israeli state for beatings and prolonged detention. He reminds us all, as all of the Palestinian labor unions regularly do, that the working-class struggle is connected beyond borders, and that we cannot win and hold rights in a privileged bubble while others are denied them.

Address

109 Hampshire House, UMass
Amherst, MA
01002

Telephone

+14135454504

Website

https://umasspsu.org/, https://linktr.ee/psunion

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