Over 1,400 Teamsters are on strike at the University of Minnesota. The largest strike in the Teamsters Union is on and members are ready to win. 

Minnesota Local 320 represents over 1,400 workers at University of Minnesota campuses across the state. The largest campuses are in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth. 

University negotiators set off this crisis by issuing a “last, best and final” contract offer that demanded that Teamsters accept lower raises than all other union workers at the University. 

At the 11th hour, company negotiators blindsided the union bargaining committee with a new demand to change the contract expiration date to December so members would have to strike in the dead of winter.

“These issues were, and are, deal-breakers,” two strike leaders Christy O’Connor and Estifanos Tesfagiorgis wrote in an Op-Ed in the Minnesota Daily. 

More than 82 percent of members voted to reject the University’s insulting offer. 

After the overwhelming contract rejection, members held a picket sign making party. Strike captains were designated on every campus. Members signed up for picketing shifts. 

The strike began on Monday at the Austin, Crookston, Duluth, Grand Rapids, Morris and Waseca campuses and kicked off Tuesday night in Saint Paul. 

University Strikes Itself

Local 320 members clean buildings and shovel snow. They prepare and serve meals in the dining halls. They collect garbage and keep the heat and AC running in dorms and classrooms. They take care of research animals in labs.

University negotiators have struck themselves and set these services grinding to a halt. 

“We have no choice," groundskeeper Alek Mansour told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Everyone is struggling with this inflation. Everything is expensive.” 

Local 320 members are backed by strike benefits of $1,000 per week. Mansour says he is confident that workers will achieve their goals.

Much More Than Wages

The first Teamster strike at the University of Minnesota is about much more than wages. 

The Teamster contract expires in the summer and Local 320 members have maximized their leverage by preparing for strike action at the beginning of the semester. 

University management is trying to make members give up that leverage and make them strike during the dead of Minnesota’s frigid winters instead.

“We told management in negotiations that changing the expiration is a deal-breaker for us, and after the contract vote they know the members feel exactly the same way,” said Sara Parcells, a shop steward and bargaining committee member from Minneapolis. 

“At a time of growing attacks on workers and immigrants, we put forward a bargaining platform of fair wage increases, protection against harassment and language to protect our brothers and sisters who are immigrants from East African countries,” O’Connor and Tesfagiorgis wrote in their Op-Ed.

“We have been uniting for months. We won’t be divided now,” O’Connor said.

“University management can settle this crisis today by agreeing to fair wage increases and dropping their demand to change our contract’s expiration date,” said Kayli Staubus, a shop steward and negotiating committee member from Duluth. “We are done bargaining against ourselves.”