Workers at the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign (UIUC) have overwhelmingly rejected the latest collective bargaining agreement proposal. SEIU Local 73 represents 763 food and facility service workers who have been locked in seven months of collective bargaining and voted overwhelmingly to strike on July 24. Unless new collective bargaining agreements are presented, the strike could begin as early as Sunday, September 15.

“If they want us to do more, they have to pay more,” said Melody Decker, president of Chapter 119 and building services officer.

“Given rising inflation and rising parking costs for employees, management’s final offer was clearly inadequate,” said Dena Gary, head chef and member of the negotiating team.

“Given the increased demand and current events on campus, they insulted us by asking us to do more for less money,” said Teresa Deaville, building services employee and union representative.

“The number of non-government jobs is increasing at an alarming rate. So much so that we can no longer get people to work here, which leads to an extreme shortage of staff. This makes working conditions very unsafe,” said John Morris, building services employee. “Our members have spoken. They are fully prepared to strike for fair wages,” said Joseph Richert, secretary-treasurer of SEIU Local 73. “Our negotiating team is ready to negotiate daily to reach a fair agreement before the current contracts expire on August 31.”