The AFSCME Local 1110 strike at Illinois State University [ISU] is approaching its third week with no apparent end in sight.
AFSCME Local 1110 is the union representing about 350 striking building, dining and grounds employees at ISU. They have been on strike since April 8.
“We really want to have a settlement and get people back to work for the benefit of our students, our faculty and those workers themselves, and so we’re hopeful that parties can get back to the table,” said ISU vice president of finance and planning Glen Nelson in an interview on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
Nelson acknowledged there has been no movement between the university and striking workers since the last bargaining session on April 15. In the meeting nearly two weeks ago, the university had not altered its final deal.
Current offer
ISU has said its current offer "is competitive with the pay for comparable roles in the local marketplace."
The university said all entry-level employees would earn $17.76 or more, and would climb to $29.29 per hour on the high end.
"All but two positions in the bargaining unit would be at or above the median pay offered by other employers in Bloomington-Normal for similar positions," the status report said.
Nelson said the current offer continues to be the university’s final one, valued at $7.2 million over the course of the five-year contract.
“We’re certainly open to coming back to the table, but I believe we’re really down to three issues that are out there,” said Nelson.
Those three issues, Nelson confirmed, are:
- Pay increases. ISU said it's offered AFSCME five years of guaranteed annual increases, but that AFSCME wants more. [The union said the parties are very close to agreement on this point.]
- Whether AFSCME workers will get raises when nonunion ISU workers get them. In a status update, ISU said AFSCME wants a clause that "would guarantee both annual contractual increases and, in the event the annual increase for [nonunion] employees under the campus wage program exceeds the negotiated contractual increases, the difference between the negotiated increase and the campus wage program."
- AFSCME wants a retroactive pay raise back to July 2025, representing what they missed when their contract expired during negotiations. ISU said it told AFSCME back in 2024 that it would "no longer [offer] retroactive pay in future contracts."
Since negotiations began last January, Nelson said the union presented 37 proposals. He said about half were withdrawn, half were settled, and these three remain.
Nelson did not have specific data about how much more the university would have to pay to meet all of AFSCME's demands.
At this point in negotiations, Nelson said the mediator is handling communication.
“…and we’re waiting to hear from the mediator if she believes that it would be beneficial to bring the parties back together,” he said. “Certainly, if AFSCME requested an additional session, we would be open for that, and I’m sure if we requested one, they would be open as well.”
Anders Lindall with the AFSCME Council 31, said ISU President Aondover Tarhule and Nelson's refusal to consider any retroactive increases amounts to a pay cut, putting their wages further behind inflation.
"If workers agreed to Tarhule and Nelson’s demand, what would prevent a future administration from purposely delaying a new agreement to avoid paying increases?" Lindall asked.
AFSCME has argued that its workers should receive comparable pay to employees at other higher education institutions in the state of Illinois, the same way ISU does for faculty, rather than gauging pay on comparable positions in Bloomington-Normal.
Nelson said ISU does compare itself to other institutions, but not for the positions belonging to those in the union.
“The AFSCME employees are recruited from a local wage market, and the positions that those employees would go to are in the local marketplace, rather than at other universities,” he said. “When we are looking at faculty positions, we recruit on a national basis, and so that’s coming from a different marketplace.”
State legislature
Speaking to an Illinois House committee hearing in Springfield last week, Tarhule pointed to financial instability as one reason for the university’s focus in negotiations.
He said if the university increased all wages across campus by 3% a year while incurring a 2% a year increase in inflationary costs, ISU would have to increase tuition by 6% a year to catch up without other remedies such as university budget cuts or additional state funding.
Nelson said the most logical solution would be a split, or a smaller increase in both tuition and state funding.
Nelson said if the university had more funding, then it would be in a better position to fund AFSCME and many other initiatives on campus.
“We are the lowest funded per-student university in the state,” he told WGLT. "We are considerably lower than the average appropriation per student, and so if we were more equitably funded as to the other universities, we would be in a completely different position in looking at our financial situation and what we could afford for our employees and for our students.”
Nelson declined to say what additional state funding would do specifically in the AFSCME negotiations.
State Rep. Sharon Chung and state Sen. Dave Koehler, both Democratic lawmakers representing parts of Bloomington-Normal, have pledged public support to the union. Both have also said they do not believe the university is negotiating in good faith.
“I think they have a very difficult position,” Nelson said, “and I believe this is a situation where an individual—it may be like a family situation where you have two siblings who are in a current impasse, and the parents love both children and they’re being supportive…I think they’re being supportive of all their constituents.”
Temporary workers
In response to AFSCME's claims in a lawsuit that the university has employed strikebreakers to replace those workers currently idled by the work stoppage, university spokesperson Chris Coplan said ISU has used some of the external vendors previously — and are acquired through the university's "established procurement process" and are following the law.
"These same services are provided by these companies to many other businesses in our community and are needed to continue the operations of the University," Coplan said.
"They are not strikebreakers and to call them so is inaccurate."
Lindall called ISU administration's actions "grossly callous conduct" that shows a "lack of respect for university employees."
Coplan said "dozens" of AFSCME workers have also gone back to work during the strike. He noted most of the dining center workers who are on strike do not work during the summer months, while building and grounds workers are year-round employees.
"The fact is that the overwhelming number of strikers are holding the line, despite the financial hardship," Lindall said. "Clearly ISU's use of strikebreakers and its refusal to negotiate are a cynical strategy to pressure these low-wage workers, but only a few have fallen prey to management's attempt to starve them out instead of settling."
Nelson declined to comment on the lawsuit directly. He said the university still has an incentive to end the strike, but ISU has to be prepared to complete the work that the striking workers are not currently doing.
Graduation
Spring commencement ceremonies are planned for May 8 and 9. With thousands of families converging on campus, Nelson said he hopes an agreement will be reached before then. He said he is not in a position to give his level of confidence on reaching a deal before graduation.
“Certainly, we’d like that image not to be in people’s minds if that was their last image that they saw of ISU, but at the same time, we believe that if we can get the message out as to what the issues are, what the university’s position is and what we’re actually doing to ensure a positive student experience at graduation, at commencement for both the students and their family, that’s what our concern is,” he said.
Nelson said the administration is more concerned about providing the quality service to students and families that they expect from ISU.
“…and we’ll find a way to do it, and hopefully we’re doing that with our AFSCME employees on the job,” he said.
