Unions to rally Tuesday at U of M

The Teamsters local representing University of Minnesota maintenance, food service and other workers, and the SEIU local seeking to represent faculty will hold a Solidarity Rally Tuesday, Nov. 1, on the Minneapolis campus.

The rally will start at 3 p.m. outside Morrill Hall on Northrop Mall, located just off University Ave. on the East Bank. Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, will be featured speaker.

Minnesota Academics United, part of Service Employees International Union Local 284, filed cards in January with the state Bureau of Mediation Services to seek an election to represent Twin Cities tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty.

“We are organizing a union because we want faculty and students to have a voice in the University’s direction and priorities, our working conditions and the future of higher education,” the union said in announcing the rally.

Teamsters Local 320 represents several hundred facilities and food service workers at the University. Under their union contract, members are entitled to take paid sick leave, but the union says it “continues to battle with the University of Minnesota over its application” of the leave policy. Local 320 has filed nearly 30 grievances over unjust discipline for workers who took leave, it said.

In addition, Local 320 said it is working for “tuition remission for employee’s families and a system-wide, $15 minimum wage.”

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