AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – There was a rally on the UMass Amherst Campus Monday afternoon against the university’s administration. This rally outside of the Whitmore building was called Save our Staff.

Unions, students, professors, and more at UMass Amherst spoke out over a plan by the university to privatize the jobs of more than 100 employees who work in fundraising.

Under the administration’s plan, approximately 100 individuals who work for the university’s advancement office will lose state positions and pensions as those positions are eliminated and recreated within a private foundation.

“They wanna make a change that’s totally unnecessary that they see as requiring to privatize these positions and again these positions have always been state positions they should remain state positions and that’s why we’re here to speak out,” said Brad Turner, Co-Chair of the Professional Staff Union at UMass.

Turner also told 22News that the workers took these jobs because in large part they are state positions. They wanted the benefits associated with state positions and unions.

Unions on campus plan to continue to fight against what they feel as an unjust plan from the school.