American University staff kicked off what is set to be a five day long strike Monday morning, demanding higher wages and equitable pay. The strike comes after failed contract negotiations last week between the university and the staff’s union, SEIU Local 500 which includes 550 provost’s staff.

Wearing purple shirts and chanting “no contract, no peace,” about a hundred staff  members marched through the university’s Washington College of Law, about a mile away from the main campus where undergraduates have begun moving in for the start of the fall semester. The strike, which is set to run through 3 p.m. on Friday, coincides with undergraduates’ welcome week.

Amanda Kleinman, an academic coach at the Academic Support and Access Center, was at the strike Monday. She said staff has dealt with years of “historically low salary increases” and the university risks losing more of its high-quality staff if it doesn’t change course.

“I want the university to take this opportunity to do the right thing and invest in us as staff, so we can go back to our offices and serve students and faculty,” Kleinman told DCist/WAMU. “We really love our jobs.”

American University staff voted to unionize in November 2020. Negotiations came to an impasse last week primarily due to disagreement over salary increases. The union is demanding a five percent guaranteed salary increase in the first year of the contract. The university says its final offer is a 2.5 percent increase for all staff in the union, with a potential 1.5 percent merit increase.

But Kleinman said that a 1.5 percent merit increase is not something that staff can depend on or would have equal access to, as recent turnover makes it more difficult for them to meet professional development goals. Many, she said, are juggling more than one job. In Kleinman’s department, for example, there would usually be four academic coaches. Right now, she is the only one.

“The idea that I would be able to go above and beyond in my professional development goals for the year to maybe earn this extra 1.5 percent, is not a consistent reliable measure,” Kleinman said. “To exceed those goals, even if you do have a good supervisor, becomes this uphill battle that you never seem to reach the top of.”

Kleinman said for her, the difference between the union’s requested increase and the university’s offer is not a small one, especially given D.C.’s cost of living. Her current salary, she said, is $54,000 a year. Retirement savings, grocery bills and health care costs already use up much of that yearly income.

“If you’re trying to take care of a family, that’s impossible,” she said. “I share a house with adults, and our rent is far below market value, because our landlord is a good person. But we’re in this stuck position where we’re resting on the kindness of a very elderly organic farmer.”

In an email to American University affiliates on Friday, Aug. 19, Provost Peter Starr said the decision to strike in “this important week for students and families” is “disappointing,” given “significant progress in negotiations” and the “closeness” between the union’s requested increase and the university’s offer. Starr claimed staff would get an average wage increase of 4.6 percent in the first year of the contract, adding that university is offering base salary increases between one and three percent for long-serving employees and is eliminating the university’s lowest pay bands.

Sandra Rodriguez, the university’s associate director of communications, told DCist/WAMU on Monday that the university is not willing to change its offer.

“We proposed fair and equitable terms in our best and final offer. We are willing to a reach an agreement based on that proposal,” Rodriguez wrote in an email.

Kelly Jo Bahry, assistant director at AU Abroad, said it’s “disappointing” that she and her fellow staff have to strike. Making signs outside Capital Hall, Bahry told DCist/WAMU that she’d rather be with her students.

“This strike is happening because AU has not listened to the voice of the AU community,” she said. “They don’t want to listen to us. And they don’t value the work that we’ve made to make AU a top institution.”

Bahry has worked at the university since 2004. “I love my students,” she said. But she said the pay is not sustainable, with some full-time staff earning less than $40,000 a year before the union formed.

“My son is watching everything I do,” she said. “I’m teaching him to stand up for himself and I would be disheartened to know that he thought I wasn’t doing anything about this.”

Bahry said it’s especially “surprising” that the administration hasn’t stayed at the bargaining table given the personal sacrifices she and other staff made during the pandemic.

“We thought AU would be able to see that,” she said. ‘They have not respected what we did for them.”

Throughout the morning march, several drivers passing by along Nebraska Avenue honked and waved to show solidarity. Some students also showed up. Gregory Smith, a rising third-year at the Washington College of Law, brought water and chips. He told DCist/WAMU he wanted to support the staff he works so closely with.

“I wouldn’t be able to do the things I do here without them,” he said. “We are very privileged to have very close access to talented professors, attorneys, titans in their field who are educating us.”

And he’s encouraging other students to support the union in small ways.

“Showing up at all is doing so much for the movement, and also to just let people know that this matters,” Smith said.

American University owns the FCC license for WAMU but the station, as well as DCist, maintain editorial independence. Some staff, including this reporter, are part of a union separate from SEIU Local 500.