University of Minnesota – Randy Furst at LaborNotes reports that 1,400 Teamster representing service workers at the University of Minnesota have won a victory in a five-day walkout that showcased solidarity.
“This is what happens when people stick together,” said Steve Tesfagiorgis, a Shop Steward and Strike Captain for Teamsters Local 320 and a Senior Custodian on the Minneapolis campus. “Our members are from different places and speak many different languages, and we all worked together and won.”
The Union includes more than 400 East African Workers. At rallies, on flyers and during Zoom meetings, members communicated in five languages. The five-day Strike, which took place from September 8th to the 12th, by Custodial, Food Service, Maintenance and Sanitation Workers, featured around-the-clock picketing and a massive rally and march at the Minneapolis campus by 1,000 Workers and supporters. The union received broad support from professors, students and other Unions. Every campus in the University System was struck, including Crookston, Morris, Duluth, Rochester, and the Twin Cities, creating havoc for campus services as the Fall Semester got underway.
The University enrolls more than 70,000 students. The strike was called after the University spent months pressing for concessions. It had proposed a smaller wage increase for Teamsters than the Graduate Student Union had received, believing it had the upper hand.
