Following the end of the strike of the Teamsters Labor Union Local 320, students discussed their thoughts on the strike and its impact on their lives. 

The strike impacted operations across the University, including the dining halls and student workers.

For nearly a week, the union of over 1,400 University workers struck on all four of the University’s campuses before reaching an agreement on Sept. 12, according to the University Office of Human Resources. 

According to students, food service — one of the many roles the union represents on campus — saw struggles as Teamsters relinquished duties to strike. 

Molly Pitzen, a first-year living in Bailey Hall, said University dining hall issues ranged from a lack of staff to limited food options. 

“The biggest difference in the dining hall was that there was just a little bit more of a limited kind of day-to-day spread of food options,” Pitzen said. “There was a stand that didn’t really have any food on it during dinner and stuff.” 

Pitzen said she was disappointed the University administration did not initially listen to the Teamsters’ demands, since it led to a strike. She added that she hoped the University would take the union’s demands more seriously, as she believes they are what keep the University running.

The Teamsters’ striking workers included food service workers, maintenance staff and janitors, according to an email statement from Teamsters Grady Johnson. 

“A strike on University campuses across the state will disrupt undergraduate cafeteria buildings, building cleanliness, trash collection and other important daily functionings of our institution,” Johnson said in the statement. 

Fourth-year Joe Kyle said that since students have seen the University’s unpopular administrative decisions, such as increasing the tuition costs, they can understand the reasoning behind the Teamsters’ decision to strike. 

“Students are going to be very quick to blame admin in situations like this because they’ve experienced firsthand issues where admin is jacking up prices on tuition,” Kyle said. “They kind of have this sort of built-in experience that makes them understand and sympathize with where the Teamsters are coming from.” 

Kyle said he noticed most academic buildings on campus lacked garbage cans for days, which shows how Teamsters workers are essential to the University. 

“I think the point of acts like that is to show that the University relies on these workers, and that’s why they deserve to have a say over what their wages are,” Kyle said.

The strike also affected student workers. Joel Delikowski, a student worker at Moos Tower, said if student workers did not agree to work in a different building during the Teamsters’ strike, they could have lost their jobs.  

“As a student worker, we were shuffled around to fill the Teamsters positions, which put us in a bad position,” Delikowski said. “We were told that if we did not work the Teamsters’ jobs, that would be a violation of our contract and we would lose our jobs or be subject to discipline.” 

The University said in a Sept. 9 email statement that non-striking workers would still be required to continue their job responsibilities. 

Delikowski said working at the University as a student has its challenges, especially for international student workers. 

“Being a student worker is a strange position to be in, given that you are both a student and you are an employee of the University,” Delikowski said. “It’s an even harder position to be in if you are an international student, if you can only work for the University because of your visa.”

Correction: A previous version stated all five campuses had Teamsters members go on strike. The Rochester campus does not have any employees represented by Teamsters.