UAW strike leads to negative dining, move-in impacts at Cornell as bargaining stalls

As the new academic year began, Cornell University representatives provided an update on its ongoing negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) chapter 2300.

The university’s Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Christine Lovely, Interim Provost John Siliciano and Vice President of Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi sent a joint statemen t on the negotiations and their effect on campus life to students Friday.

The university reiterated its commitment to “negotiating in good faith,” despite limited progress in recent talks.

Cornell has proposed using a mediator to help resolve the dispute, but the UAW has declined this approach, the university said.

Last Wednesday, Cornell offered a new wage proposal that eliminated tiered pay structures and aimed to address UAW priorities. However, the union responded with additional demands, complicating the negotiations, university officials claim.

Meanwhile, UAW picketers are rallying behind Kabin Crew’s “The Spark,” in online picket pages and behind signs demanding more from the university, as they have since August 19 when their strike on the university began, packing spark in their signs and shirts.

"Cornell’s refusal to address the critical needs of our members is a clear indication of their complicity in the struggles and hardships we endure," UAW representatives said in an update on Aug 21 . "It’s shameful that many of our members— Cornell’s own employees — are forced to rely on the university’s food pantry and Section 8 assistance just to survive."

The strikes impact on campus experience:

With students moving back in on August 19, UAW members and some of Cornell’s incoming freshman students have criticized how the campus services have been pulled back, posting pictures of their less-than-satisfactory lunche s and new university president Michael Kotlikoff working a shift at the Ithaca campus's Morrison dining hall.

The university announced the closure of Cornell Dining eateries to those without a meal plan on Friday, cutting grab-and-go options for staff “to maximize the dining experience for students,” and has sent out requests for interested University retirees to return to work.

In a Sunday update, Cornell stated the “style of service and menu items … may be impacted” in Cornell dining rooms.

This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: UAW strike leads to negative dining, move-in impacts at Cornell as bargaining stalls