Jessica Tezoquipa, contributor

“End poverty wages at [the] UMN” had been the message heard all around the University of Minnesota (UMN) campus. University workers went on strike Tuesday, Sept. 9, after Teamsters 320, a union representing service workers, declined a new contract from the UMN. 

As of Saturday, Sept. 13, UMN and Teamsters 320 have gotten a tentative contract that aligns with their demands: a 3.5% raise for all workers that aligns with inflation, arbitration language to be added to their agreement in order to protect workers of color and women from harassment and a two-year contract to align with other unions on campus. 

“It’s a lot, it’s everything on the tables, it’s everything. We have the leverage. The university is trying to choke us, with the negotiation time. They are trying to put the strike in winter, because they know in winter nobody will march. It used to be for seven years they [have] never been [changed], so they try to stop us. [We want it] to stay the way it was,” shares Steve, an organizer found at the picket line.

Multiple services on campus have been halted as a result of the service workers who have left their positions. Annie, a UMN student, shared about their experience. “I definitely think that quality of living has gotten worse. I know in our dorm there’s a bunch of washing machines that are broken, that aren’t really gonna get fixed; and you notice a bunch of trash overflowing when you’re walking on campus and the dining hall hour restrictions have been tough to work around.” Students who have meal plans cannot use them as their schedules require them to pay for food elsewhere on campus. Flyers can be found on campus boards protesting UMN Pres. Rebecca Cunningham, reading “REQUEST A REFUND OF YOUR MEAL PLAN! YOUR MONEY BACK OR A FAIR CONTRACT FOR THE TEAMSTERS!”

This strike, although affecting student lives, still received a warm reception from students. “Nothing really negative. Nothing that’s making me really angry, I get what they are doing[…] We could get these workers getting paid fair wages. I mean for thirty-five thousand a year you kinda expect your people working here to be paid fairly,” stated another UMN student. Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a political organization at UMN, have been trying to bridge the gap between workers and students. They do this by educating people about their rights, as well as showing students how they can support the Teamsters, detailing via flyers how to safely decline and avoid the scabbing that student workers are allegedly being forced to do. “I’m on campus a lot more than I would be as a commuter student, but all my free time outside of classes now are going toward the teamsters basically,” shares Ronnie, a SDS member chasing after the parade with water.