Hundreds of food service and building service workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 will picket before a bargaining session with University management on Thursday morning, according to an SEIU press release.

Student and faculty organizations will join Local 73 members outside the Florida Avenue Residence Hall, in Urbana at 7:30 a.m. to show their frustration after months of failed negotiations with University management. Following the picket, negotiations with a federal mediator will convene at 9 a.m.

Thursday’s negotiations might be the final session before a strike by more than 800 members represented by SEIU Local 73 occurs. Earlier this year, 98% of food service workers and 94% of building service workers authorized a strike after months of negotiating a new contract to no avail. A 14-day notice to terminate the contract and strike anytime after those 14 days expired was issued April 1.

“The University of Illinois has given exorbitant raises to its top administrators while offering next to nothing to its hardest working men and women,” said Local 73 President Christine Boardman in the press release. “Our members are ready and more than willing to strike to show the University how important they are to this school.”