Classes at Cornell University started on Monday as the workers who usually staff the dining halls, clean buildings and maintain campus grounds remain on strike.
The UAW union chapter is calling for higher wages, cost of living adjustments and free parking for workers. Workers began the strike on Sunday, Aug. 18, the night before students returned to campus.
Since then, Cornell has called on non-union employees and retirees to fill the roles of striking workers and has limited the operations of its dining halls. Union members and their supporters rallied and picketed every day last week.
One person present on the picket line Friday was Shawn Nichols, who has been a gardener at Cornell for 13 years. Over the past year, he’s had to pick up other jobs to make ends meet.
He doesn’t expect to leave the picket line until the union gets a new contract.
“I'd like to think as long as we get a respectful contract that will put people in a place where they don’t have to go apply for food stamps and things of that nature,” Nichols said.
In a statement Sunday, the union’s bargaining team said negotiations stalled over the weekend.
The bargaining team wrote that the union filed two charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Cornell University. The charges include "unilaterally setting conditions to bargaining", adding that university leaders wanted questions about proposed wages answered in writing before negotiations resume, according to the statement.
The union also said the university unlawfully enforced its expressive activity policy on a member, which was filed as a second NLRB charge. The policy, which regulates protests on campus, was a point of contention last year when several students were disciplined for violations during pro-Palestinian rallies.
The statement said that Cornell has chosen a strike by not doing more to reach a contract.
“This strike can end the moment the University agrees to settle a fair, proper wage contract, and they can do that anytime they want! Until then, they choose for this strike to continue,” the statement read.
The university is calling for a third party to mediate negotiations. Bargaining continued on Monday.
‘More leverage’
This strike comes amid a wave of optimism and action within the U.S labor movement, and the UAW in particular.
Nationally, the union covers employees in many different fields, including workers in aerospace, steel and academics. Membership includes workers at the three major U.S auto manufacturing companies, Ford Motor Companies, General Motors and Stellantis, formerly known as Chrysler. Last year, the union secured new contracts with historic wage increases after strikes by autoworkers.
Dr. Robert Bruno, a labor expert at the University of Illinois, said these big wins and leadership changes have energized local UAW chapters to fight for their own contracts.
“There is a renewed sense that for the first time in a long time, workers have more leverage,” Bruno said.
He added there’s a feeling that universities have become more like corporations, and that growing endowments aren’t reinvested into university workers.
“So when the university starts to look like and behave like General Motors, or it behaves like Amazon, or it behaves like Starbucks, you're going to get a reaction and a response.”
The union frequently references Cornell’s $10 billion endowment, comparing it with worker wages. According to the union, the average wage for members is currently $22 an hour. Some union members said they’ve had to pick up second jobs or apply for Section 8 to afford their living expenses.
Cornell officials say a majority of the university’s endowment is restricted by agreements with donors and can’t be tapped to pay workers.
Community reactions
The two candidates running for office in New York’s 52nd Senate District, which includes Cornell University, joined union members on the picket line last week.
Tompkins County legislator and Republican state Senate candidate, Mike Sigler, talked about the strike at a recent meeting of the county Legislature.
“I certainly just want to let those folks know that they have my support. I know they have other people's support, and hopefully they'll come to a resolution as quickly as possible to this contract dispute,” Sigler said.
His opponent, Democratic state Senator Lea Webb, told WSKG she will “continue to stand with them on the picket line as they fight for the fair deal they deserve.”
Before the strike, during a Friday UAW rally at Cornell, Webb released another pro-union statement, co-signed by state Assemblymember Anna Kelles.
Some Cornell students and academic groups have also spoken out in support of striking service and maintenance workers at the university.
Martin Armstrong, a new Cornell student, hopes that workers can get the changes they’re fighting for.
“I'm excited that it looks like there is going to be movement on an issue to improve the lives of people who run the school I go to,” Armstrong said.
The university’s student paper, The Cornell Daily Sun, released an editorial last week backing the union and criticizing the university.
“In forcing a strike over the demand that workers be able to afford to live, University administrators continue to run Cornell’s reputation into the ground by consistently prioritizing profits over people,” it said.
Cornell Graduate Students United, the union representing academic graduate workers at Cornell, also threw their support behind UAW on social media. The group told members not to cross picket lines or take on the outsourced jobs of UAW workers.
Cornell Graduate Students United is currently negotiating a contract with the university.
