After four days, Teamsters ends strike at University of Minnesota
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Teamsters Local 320 ended its strike at the University of Minnesota late Friday. In a Facebook post, the union says it is putting forward a tentative agreement for members to vote on.
About 1,400 custodians, maintenance staff and food service workers had been on strike across several campuses since Monday. A majority had voted down what the University of Minnesota called its “last, best and final offer” earlier this month.
Kayli Staubus, a Teamsters steward and negotiating committee member from Duluth, said the university extended a new offer after a union rally on Friday night. She said the offer meets all the union’s core demands, including an annual 3.5 percent wage increase in the first two years of the contract.
In a statement on Saturday, the university and the union summarized the new agreement this way: “In the spirit of cooperation, Teamsters Local 320 and the University of Minnesota have put their differences aside and come to a resolution in order to support the greater good.”
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Teamsters will return to work on Sunday, according to Staubus.
Meanwhile, organizers of Farm Aid say they will go ahead with a planned concert on Saturday, Sept. 20. The event is scheduled for the U of M’s Huntington Bank Stadium and will feature performances from Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp.
Prior to the tentative agreement, Farm Aid said artists and production team members wouldn’t cross picket lines.
Farm Aid’s support offered “tremendous leverage,” Staubus said. “This is a huge win for our members. It was all of us out there on the picket line that made this happen.”
