Workers Strike Called Off at UMD After Settling with Three Year Agreement
Photo from Aubrie Ecker. Original posters produced by the Young Democratic Socialists of America
The Teamsters 320 union strike was called off on Saturday, Oct. 22 after coming to terms with a new three year agreement with the University of Minnesota.
The agreement stated that minimum wage will be $20 an hour starting on July 1 with an 11.28% raise over the next three years. Employees will also be given a minimum of 30 hours a week in the summer, health insurance, a seat on the sustainability committee and elimination of “hiring in steps.”
Anterior to the agreement, working for the University was characterized as “stressful” and “uncertain'' by dining staff employee Randa Kleinschmidt.
The Teamsters employees make up 1,500 workers in the University of Minnesota branches, including the dining staff, transportation, custodial staff, land care, housing and additional units.
The union had voted 93% in favor of striking on Oct. 22 if all their needs were not met, and the University branches were gearing up for the adverse effects such as students and other faculty being forced to scab for the Teamsters.
“If the strike occurs, it will have an impact on all of us as we go about our work. We likely will face many challenges not found in our normal activity,” Mani Vang, Senior Director of Employee and Labor Relations said in an email sent out to student workers.
“It affects you, it’s the people that feed you, the people that make going to school possible,” Kai Poecher, secretary of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, a student-run club campaigning in allyship with the Teamsters, said.
“We’ve been trying to mainly educate the student body,” Poecher said. “We want to dispel the lies that the University is coming out with, showing that they haven’t been cooperating in the negotiation process.”
“It’s not very known,” Lexi Frakie, a student at UMD, said. “I heard about it in one of my literature classes and we took up 20 minutes of talking about it and our opinions and thoughts, and that was the first time I heard about it.”
However, with the highest increase in pay the University has given the Teamsters in 26 years, they agreed to call off the strike.
Kleinschmidt found the agreement’s pay increase excellent, but she was concerned about the factor of seniority.
“Those of us at the top who have been here 20 years are making a couple dollars more,” Kleinschmidt said.
The agreement does not offer a permanent solution to the demands of the University’s employees and the uneven distribution of wealth, as University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel makes approximately $529 an hour, but it is enough for the Teamsters to come to terms with now.