ITHACA – In a historic turnout, workers at Cornell University voted by 94% to authorize a strike if necessary. The contract covers more than 1,200 custodians, groundskeepers, cooks, food service workers, greenhouse workers, gardeners, mechanics and others and expired on June 30.
The membership, made up of maintenance and facilities workers, dining workers, gardeners, custodians, transportation workers and others, are facing declining real wages even as Cornell’s endowment has ballooned, and tuition revenue has skyrocketed. Over the past four years, Cornell’s endowment has soared 39% to nearly $10 billion and tuition has increased 13% – all while workers’ buying power has fallen 5%.
Many of the workers have had to move out of Ithaca to afford housing and must pay expensive parking fees to park on campus. The wage for most at the university is less than $22 per hour, far lower than what economists estimate it costs for a family to live in the region. The compensation for top administrators exceeded $12.4 million in 2022.
“We’re the heart, soul and backbone of Cornell. Students and faculty depend on us to make the campus run, but we haven’t seen pay raises that keep up. In fact, we’re falling behind,” said UAW Local 2300 President Christine Johnson. “We’re united and ready to join the stand up movement if we need to so we can get our fair share.”
UAW Local 2300 recently filed seven separate unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Cornell University, citing violations of workers’ rights and federal labor laws amid ongoing contract negotiations.
Cornell University workers are the latest UAW members standing up to corporate greed. Thousands of UAW members have won record contracts in the last year, including auto workers at Daimler Truck, the Big Three automakers, and Allison Transmission workers in Indianapolis, IN.
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