Illinois State University Strike Enters Fourth Week as Negotiations Stall Over Pay and Retroactive Wages

Non-teaching staff at Illinois State University have been on strike for four weeks, with little progress as union leaders and university administrators remain at an impasse over wages and contract terms.

The maintenance, building and grounds service workers represented by AFSCME Council 31 have been striking since April 8, demanding higher pay. Students at the campus in Normal have dealt with dirty bathrooms, garbage piling up and limited dining options as a result of the work stoppage.

A group of striking workers traveled to the Capitol in Springfield Tuesday to call attention to their strike, which has become an issue in the governor's race.

Without us, I know they're not getting the quality of cleaning they deserve, building service worker Sue Perry told reporters at a news conference in Springfield.

Little progress has been made in negotiations since January, according to Renee Nestler, AFSCME's staff representative. That's when the university put forward its latest offer, which it also says is its final offer.

ISU has offered staff members a plan that would grant a 3.5 percent raise when the new contract is ratified, bringing hourly wages to $21.34 on average for dining hall employees and $22.78 for building services employees. Workers would be slated for a 3 percent annual raise every July 1 through 2029.

But the union says the lack of retroactive pay, since workers did not receive a raise last July, is a major problem. They are seeking a 3.5 percent wage increase retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year last summer, along with certainty that staff members will be a part of the campus wage program.

The program would allow staff members to receive a greater wage increase when their management receives an increase above the yearly standard.

Union leaders said negotiations over the last four months have been unproductive and no future bargaining sessions are scheduled.

We know the community values us because every day brings an outpouring of support, said union president Chuck Carver, a building service worker. The ones who don't value us are high up in the administration. They are ignoring our well-being, of the students, and damaging ISU's reputation.

The strike also escalated into a lawsuit against the university. The union alleges the university has hired new, non-unionized workers to replace the striking workers while they're off the job.

We are fighting for fair pay and dignity, and while they're saying they can't afford it, they're paying these scab companies more than what we make, Carver said, claiming the contracted vendors are making $38 to $197 an hour, compared to ISU's $16 floor for many workers.

ISU has asked a court to dismiss the case.

These external companies are not strikebreakers, they are well-established, local businesses that perform custodial and grounds work in and around our local community every day, ISU said in a statement. Furthermore, the use of these external companies is not illegal, and we plan to vigorously defend our position in this meritless lawsuit. The university follows a state procurement process that ensures it is compliant with the law.

State law prohibits hiring new workers to replace the ones on strike.

Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters in Springfield on Tuesday that both parties need to return to the bargaining table ASAP.

I don't believe in strikebreakers, Pritzker said. I know that that's being litigated right now, this question. You know, this should not occur. We shouldn't have people taking other people's jobs.

The strike has become a campaign issue as Republican nominee Darren Bailey joined ISU workers on the picket line on Friday, who called on Pritzker to get more involved in resolving the strike.

You can't claim to stand with workers and then disappear when it actually matters, Bailey said. You can't talk about supporting labor and then allow situations like this to drag on while families struggle to get by.

Bailey is trying to flip the narrative that Illinois Republicans are anti-union and attract a broader array of voters.

This isn't about being pro-union or anti-union, Bailey said. This is about being pro-worker and pro-family. Workers need to be supported, they need to be respected, and they need to be paid in a way that allows them to actually live and not just survive.

Pritzker didn't let Bailey off the hook from past statements and positions Democrats believe are anti-union, such as opposing the Workers Rights Amendment and voting against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

I will add that Darren Bailey, who likes to say that somehow he's standing with the workers, has never stood with workers in this state, Pritzker said.

University officials say the strike is complicated by financial constraints.

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, according to a status report.

ISU VP of Finance and Planning Glen Nelson confirmed there are three remaining sticking points in the negotiations:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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, Nelson said. When we are looking at faculty positions, we recruit on a national basis, and so that's coming from a different marketplace.

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, Nelson 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, he said. I think they're being supportive of all their constituents.