The local chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) held a solidarity rally at the O’Connor Campus Center (Coop) on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Members of SEIU Local 200United — who work at Colgate University libraries, facilities, mail services and information technology — explained to students and passersby the facts of their struggle amid ongoing contract negotiations with the University.
The union chapter, based in Syracuse, N.Y., has been continuously negotiating with the University for a new contract since May 2024. Doug McClure, SEIU Local 200United union representative and sergeant at arms, explained that their primary objective was to obtain a wage increase.
“We’re no longer fighting for our members to have a living wage. They deserve a thriving wage, and that’s been our mantra through the course of negotiations with the university,” McClure said. “They can do better.”
The other main objective of negotiations for the union was to enhance benefit time packages. McClure added that SEIU Local 200United is also committed to merging all of its Colgate members, who are currently divided into two units with different coterminous expiratory contracts, under a single collective bargaining agreement.
“We’ve made several attempts in the past decade to [do this], but we have been unsuccessful with resistance from the University,” McClure said.
Colgate University issued a statement to the Maroon-News in response to the negotiations.
“The University supports the right of our unionized employees to come together in support of a fair contract,” the statement read. “Importantly, the members of Local 200 SEIU are our colleagues, friends and, in some cases, family. Their contributions to the University are incredibly important and valued.”
The University also noted that a federal mediator is working with both parties to secure the new contract. McClure generally spoke positively about the cooperation between the University and the union, specifically praising Colgate’s Vice President for Administration Christopher Wells.
“[Wells has] been a great partner to have on behalf of the University as it relates to our labor relations there,” McClure said. “He’s been very helpful as far as labor relations as a whole and through bargaining, as well.”
For these negotiations, however, the University retained an attorney from the Syracuse-based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King to represent Colgate at the negotiating table. McClure said that this move compounded the frustrations felt by the union.
“This time, with the University being represented by outside counsel, we have not been able to have a real, meaningful, fruitful dialog about things that we’re trying to address at the negotiations table. And it’s been very frustrating for the union,” McClure said. “The conversations have not been what they have been historically — when we engage in negotiations with the university, they’re very short, they’re very brief. We don’t have the opportunity to really get into a nice, open, meaningful dialog to better understand [the University’s position].”
McClure felt that the solidarity rally was crucial to reopen this dialog. Members of SEIU Local 200United, in matching purple shirts, stood in groups around the Coop and engaged students in conversation about their frustrations and the ongoing contract negotiations. McClure explained that this process brought Colgate and the union closer together again.
“We have had one additional session since our rally last week with each unit. From my perspective, our rally was successful in more ways than one, meaning that I think the University now recognizes that and or appreciates that our two units are unified,” McClure said. “I don’t want to say we sped up negotiations, but where it may have seemed that we’re stalled in negotiations, we were able to make some progress with the last two bargaining sessions that we’ve had.”
Senior Bridget Looby, who attended the solidarity rally, described its power on a campus that she felt was seldom engaged in this kind of organizing.
“I stopped for a brief moment and was captivated by the speech that I had happened to stumble across,” Looby said. “As a political science major at Colgate, I have noticed that I rarely ever see demonstrations on campus. To see a sea of people all wearing the same T-shirts, and for a rally to last as long as it did with as much support [as] it gathered that afternoon, was inspiring. To see not just the people that planned on attending, but those that saw what was going on deciding to stay and talk with the employees about their experiences and grievances, was a special moment.”
Another important effect of the solidarity rally was to spread awareness about the union’s struggle. Looby stated that she learned about SEIU Local 200United for the first time at the rally.
“I did not know about the union or the contract negotiations before I attended the event,” Looby said. “It was eye-opening to watch the group come together and speak in an empowered way about their working conditions.”
McClure echoed this sentiment, adding that the union had received an outpouring of support from the Colgate community in the wake of the solidarity rally.
“I can’t tell you the outreach that we’ve had from different student organizations, faculty and staff, asking us how they can help, how they can be involved, wanting to know more information,” McClure said.
Negotiation meetings for both units continued on Monday, Sept. 30 and will resume Tuesday, Oct. 1.
