University of Minnesota students and parents arriving on campus for move-in day on Tuesday were met by a picket line of custodians, dining staff, mechanics and groundskeepers chanting against the university’s “poverty wages.”
The workers held the informational picket as negotiations have stalled between the university and Teamsters Local 320, which represents 1,500 U of M workers across the state.
“I can’t afford to pay my bills,” Marissa Bremer-Roark, a building and grounds worker, said in an interview.
Bremer-Roark has worked at the university for 17 years and earns $22.56 an hour to help support herself and two children.
Her message to students? “We can’t keep living like this in order to serve you.”
The workers’ action comes amid a national surge in labor activism as workers seek significant pay increases after months of soaring inflation. University workers point to rising tuition costs for students, which have outpaced inflation for decades, even as their own wages have stagnated.
“The university is doing really well, so there’s no reason why they can’t pay us living wages,” said Niki Chistopher, a dining services worker.
A recent survey of service workers at the university found that 61% do not have enough money to pay for basic expenses, 44% have put off paying bills to buy groceries in the last year and 8% have experienced homelessness while working for the university.
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