Update (March 11, 4:10 p.m.): In a mass mail sent out to University faculty and staff, executive director of facilities and services Jack Dempsey said there will be a delay in regular building services and campus mail services. Facilities and services will continue locking and unlocking facilities, stocking restrooms and classrooms and cleaning and removing trash from restrooms on a limited basis.

General custodial services such as trash removal will not be performed in individual offices until the end of the week. Restrooms will be cleaned when possible. 

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The Service Employee’s International Union Local 73 went on a three-day strike Monday at midnight after rejecting the University’s final offer.

Members voted against the offer and in favor of a strike during a vote this weekend.

The union, which represents about 800 University building and food service workers, has been negotiating with the University since June 2012, one month before the union’s contract expired.

“It’s wonderful to see our bargaining unit and our members are standing together … fighting for a fair contract and fighting to make sure our wages continue to be living wages,” said Aaron Ammons, local chapter vice president.

While the union couldn’t release vote tallies or voter turnout numbers, area chapter president Gloria Von Behren said most members of the union came to vote.

University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said that the University will resume negotiations but has also instituted contingency plans for the strike.

“We have prioritized the most important services, and we will move people from other services to cover those,” she said.

Jack Collins, director of University Housing, sent an email to residents late Sunday, after the vote, telling residents that all regular services will continue.

“You may observe different staff performing these duties on your hall floors or in your dining room,” the email read. “All University Housing staff will wear IDs at all times. Please feel free to ask for identification if you observe someone new on your floor.”

SEIU lead negotiator Ricky Baldwin said he is predicting that services will be affected as a result of the strike.

“This University is not going to run without us,” he said. “Let them see if they can run this University without people to clean the toilets, without people to shovel the snow, without people to clean up in the dorms…”

Kaler said the strike wouldn’t mean that all 800 or so SEIU members would walk out.

“Just because the union has authorized a strike doesn’t mean that all union members will strike,” Kaler said. “Any union workers are welcome to work over this period.”

The union had sent the University a four-year contract proposal on Monday to which the University responded with its counterproposal on Thursday. But as of the union vote, most members were not satisfied.

The biggest concern for union members throughout the negotiation period has been wages. Though Ammons said the University’s final offer included a flat rate percent raise for SEIU employees, he said he thought it was too low.

“This is the right move because (of) the state of the times right now,” Ammons said. “(Because) our pensions are going up, health care may be going up and inflation is going up, yet our raises are not meeting that.”

He said on Sunday night that many SEIU members would start picketing at midnight.

“We’ll be out, ready to man our posts, and we’ll see how soon the University comes to the table,” Ammons said. “They’re going have to come back to the table with much more.”

Adam Rosen, communications director for the SEIU, and Baldwin said several unions would offer their support during the strike, citing building trades workers as an example.

“We’ve got such a strong coalition down here between the groups and unions, and the student senate actually passed a resolution in support of us,” he said. “The student senate is behind us, the students are behind us, everyone is behind us.”

Though the last scheduled bargaining session has passed, both Kaler and Baldwin said the parties will continue to negotiate until a final agreement is reached.

Austin can be reached at [email protected].