SEIU Local 73, the union representing building workers across campus, has voted to pause all work indefinitely.
According to SEIU President Ricky Baldwin, a number of demands have been resolved since negotiations began in January between the University and the union. These include grievances about cleaning up last semester’s encampment.
“Food service employees are currently laid off four times a year and are not eligible for unemployment during those times by state law,” Baldwin said. “That law needs to change, but in the meantime, we have been working on finding ways to limit the amount of lost wages.”
However, according to Baldwin, once pay was brought up — a mandatory bargaining subject — negotiations began to break down.
“We are looking for a living wage that keeps up with the cost of living. The University relies upon their workers to go the extra mile for less, and our members are done doing that,” Baldwin said.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
In 2013, SEIU launched a strike that only lasted for three days. In their absence, the University had student workers and volunteers take on the extra work.
“Even during that time, trash piled up above your head. Students put pictures on social media of how bad the food was,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin reports there will be an even higher turnout in picketers than in 2013. In this indefinite strike, it is not yet clear what the University will do to make up for the substantial loss in their labor force on campus.
As of right now, there are no current proposals. On Aug. 15, the University gave a proposed tentative agreement offering a $1 raise in the first year of the contract, 0.75 cents in the second and 0.5 cents in the third. This follows the previous contract that gave a consistent $1.25 raise.
Related is the issue of parking spots — parking fees are not already built into the workers’ compensation. The yearly $400-$600 fee eats away at any raise that is given. It is also “capped for upper-income earners, by the way, so they actually pay a lower percentage than our members do,” added Baldwin.
This steep fee still does not ensure a reliable parking spot. According to Baldwin, housing employees are often told to relocate during University events such as dorm move-ins. He said these decisions are made at the whim of the housing department, not the parking department, with no plan for alternate transportation to ensure the workers’ safety when they come in for work at 4:30 in the morning.
According to Baldwin, the work done by their members to ensure students are fed and live in a sanitary environment includes most of the undesirable work on campus. Workers recount regularly cleaning up bodily fluids, as well as finding miscarried fetuses and dead bodies, “sometimes of students they have gotten to know,” said Baldwin.
On top of this, he reports workers often face mistreatment from supervisors, facing backlash for taking days off for major life events and often being the first to be accused of theft in the event something goes missing.
Baldwin added that workers are often subject to dangerous working conditions performing laborious tasks while short-staffed. Still, the University avoids calling in overtime workers to help in order to cut down on labor costs.
This semester, the record-breaking large class that was admitted has created even more taxing demands on already understaffed building workers. The scramble for student housing has made the already very short turnaround time for cleaning and moving furniture even shorter.
“This year due to the last-minute management reaction and poor administrative planning for the large incoming class, that work was even harder, more hectic, more dangerous, and more frustrating,” Baldwin said.
As of Sept. 8, the union has voted to strike. However, this could change, such as in 2019 when the University and SEIU resolved the matter despite voting to strike. Negotiations are still ongoing, with a closed meeting set for Sept. 9.
“Our members provide security, reliability, and concern to try to make UIUC a home away from home for students. That’s something money cannot buy, and the University does not respect it or value it when it comes to paying a fair wage, even though they rely on it,” Baldwin said.
