After eight months of unsuccessful negotiations with the University, Service Employees International Union Local 73 members voted overwhelmingly Thursday and Friday to authorize a strike.
Ninety-one percent of union members voted in favor of the strike authorization. The union, which represents about 800 food and service employees at the University, will now assemble a committee that will make the final decision.
SEIU lead negotiator Ricky Baldwin hopes this vote will show the University that members “really, really need more” in reference to wages. The SEIU is also opposed to the University’s insistence that the SEIU participate in the campus wage program, which the provost uses to determine pay increases adjusted for inflation.
Campus wage program raises were about 2.5 percent last year and about 3 percent in 2011. In the two years prior, campus wages did not increase.
“(Union members are) angry basically because of the way they’re treated and also because they know the University has money” and they think the University can afford better wages, Baldwin said.
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Baldwin said that during the last bargaining session, the SEIU negotiating team made a proposal to the University that made several concessions in contested areas like wages. That proposal wasn’t accepted.
“We’re ready to try to reach an agreement with the University, and we hope that they can get serious,” Baldwin said. “We need something to change.”
When the bargaining team convenes Feb. 12, Baldwin hopes to make progress in the standstill.
“If we feel that we’re making progress in negotiations, then we won’t give them the 10-days (strike) notice right now,” Baldwin said, referring to the notice to strike required by state law. “If it looks like they’re going to be stubborn and dig in their heels, then we’re going to have to.”
Campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said in an email that she expects the SEIU and University will reach a compromise.
“We will continue to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement,” Kaler said. “We remain confident that if both sides continue to work together, we can reach agreement on the remaining issues.”
Austin can be reached at [email protected].
