University of Minnesota staff consider last offer amid strike threat

MINNEAPOLIS — Just days before students head back to campus at the University of Minnesota, 1,400 service workers are still threatening to strike.

Teamsters Local 320 includes janitors, maintenance, and food and other service workers.

That strike would have started Wednesday, but a union representative says it's postponing it while members vote, both by mail and in person, on the University's last, best, and final offer.

The union has acknowledged a strike could disrupt move-in week that starts Monday and a labor law expert calls the timing "strategic".

"That's going to give you a lot of incentive to try and find some route to see if you can negotiate a better deal because we don't know if we'll be able to get that tomorrow," said longtime Mitchell Hamline Law Professor David Larson.