Food and custodial services affected as hundreds of University of Minnesota workers continue strike
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Picketing continued at University of Minnesota campuses across the state on Wednesday, as hundreds of custodians, maintenance staff and food service workers remain on strike.
The university said some dining locations are closed or on limited service while the strike is underway, and that custodial services are also reduced.
Teamsters Local 320 members rejected a final contract offer from the U of M last week, and started their strike earlier this week. The union includes about 1,400 university workers.
As chants echoed from a picket line on the Twin Cities campus on Wednesday morning, cook Michael Johnson said he and his colleagues are not being offered the same pay raises as other bargaining units at the university.
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“We’re just looking for fair wages and being able to live our lives. That’s all,” he said. “We don’t want anything extraordinary. We’re not asking for nothing over the top. We just want what everybody deserves, what people deserve — we come in, we work hard every day, and we just want to be shown respect for doing that.”
Johnson said food service workers already face a challenge of reduced or unpredictable hours when classes are not in session.
“I’ve been there for 26 years, so I’m able to kind of fare better than many people,” he said. “Somebody just starting, it’s very hard on them. It’s very hard if you’re just starting, and then all of a sudden you’re off in the summer, you have to navigate the summer. People have other obligations and other responsibilities, families — it’s hard.”
Justin Rodin is also a cook who was on the picket line Wednesday, and he said it’s tough to support himself and his young daughter on his salary.
“I struggle to get by, and I know that most of my coworkers struggle to get by, too,” he said. “Nobody here is expecting to get rich, but we would like to be able to live comfortably, because we know the university can afford to pay us enough to enable us to live comfortably.”
The university disputed the union’s claims about pay raises in comparison to other workers, saying that the Teamsters were offered “additional financial benefits that other employee groups may not receive,” including an annual $500 lump sum payment.
A U of M spokesperson said in a statement that the final offer was “fair and equitable.”
“Our Last, Best and Final Offer balances a good-faith commitment to our employees and the University’s responsibility to be good financial stewards at a time when higher education faces profound financial challenges,” the statement reads.
The strike also affects the Crookston, Duluth and Morris campuses, as well as some other university facilities across the state.
The university has posted a list of services affected by the strike.
Police arrested one person on a picket line on the Twin Cities campus early Wednesday. Union members said that person was standing on a roadway to block a truck from passing. A campus spokesperson said the person was cited and released, and said they weren’t a member of the union or affiliated with the university.
