COLUMBIA – Chants echoed across the University of Missouri campus Saturday as dozens of university workers held a march on Jessie Hall to protest against the university’s treatment of its employees.
Many of the protesters were members of the LiUNA Local 955 labor union, which organized the march. Their jobs range from MU groundspeople and landscapers to dorm maintenance workers and campus dining employees. Despite their different titles, they urged the same message: the university isn’t treating them fairly.
Signs held by the union members said things like “stop the cuts” and “living wage now.”
“It seems like it’s a constant struggle fighting for good wages,” Robert Schreiber, a union member and building maintenance mechanic said. “Right now, unions are pretty strong across America, so I’m hopeful that we can make some change.”
Schreiber does maintenance for 218 units in the MU-owned Tara apartment complex. He said he is not treated well enough for the workload he’s expected to take on.
“There are days where it’s non-stop,” Schreiber said.
The university’s new paid time off plan, which the UM System Curators approved in September 2022, combines personal, vacation and sick days into one “bucket.” That was Schreiber’s final straw before he took action.
“We basically lost 10 days,” Schreiber said. “It didn’t feel good, and that’s when I joined the union. Because we’re not powerless.”
The plan will go into effect in January 2024 for nearly 13,000 staff members at the system’s four campuses, MU Extension and MU Health Care, according to previous KOMU 8 reporting.
Schreiber said he hopes one day the union and the university can agree.
“Let’s sit down at the table, and have some meaningful talks, and make some meaningful changes,” Schreiber said.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
But Schreiber, along with many other union members, believe the university isn’t doing enough to fairly negotiate.
“They won’t come to the table unless they have to, and so we have to get enough people until they have to,” Shreiber said.
University representatives, however, believe they are doing enough for campus employees.
“We are always ready and willing to meet with the union and their representatives,” MU Spokesperson Christian Basi said. “And do so on a regular basis.”
While the protesters said their wages are unsustainable, Basi countered, saying the university pays good wages.
“We’re all in a pretty tight job market to begin with, but we do understand that we need to make sure that we are providing a good, competitive wage,” Basi said. “We believe we are.”
While protesters said the paid time off plan will negatively impact their work experience, Basi said the new plan brings employees more freedom than the previous policy.
“The University of Missouri System did not have any paid time off for childcare, for potentially even caring for a relative,” Basi said. “While we’ve had to adjust some of the other days, we’ve actually added quite a bit of leave time to that policy.”
Basi said the university hears the protesters’ concerns and hopes they can be resolved.
“We absolutely want to make sure that we have an institution welcoming to everyone. Whether they’re there to work, to learn, or to live,” Basi said. “We want to work through and find the solutions.”