Updated May 6, 2026 at 6:32 AM CDT
Building, grounds and dining service workers at Illinois State University plan to report to work on Wednesday after voting overwhelmingly to approve a new contract to end their nearly month-long strike.
The five-year contract between ISU and AFSCME Local 1110 takes affect with union ratification.
AFSCME Local 1110 said more than 95% of the 300-plus affected workers who cast votes approved the deal.
"This struggle was about fair pay, and we won that. Even more importantly, it was about respect, and we earned it," said AFSCME Local 1110 President Chuck Carver.
The tentative agreement, announced early Tuesday morning, came after a lengthy bargaining session. It was the sixth session with a federal mediator and the first between the two parties in nearly three weeks.
The contract gives each employee a $1,500 lump sum payment.
AFSCME had sought retroactive raises going back to July 1, when the previous contract expired, but the union said the lump sum payments are of greater value to most of its employees, especially lower-paid workers.
Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule said both bargaining teams' efforts to work late into the night on an agreement — after nearly 13 hours of negotiations involving a federal mediator — reflects a "collective commitment to moving forward together.
"I encourage our campus community to unite in the spirit of collaboration, respect all individuals' rights and choices, and work to heal differences of opinion, real or perceived, so that we may reestablish our sense of shared values and mission," Tarhule said.
The annual raises in the contract, which were largely not a major point of contention, are 3.5% through June 30, followed by annual 3% increases for the next four years.
The contract also assures the university will match any annual percentage increase given to non-union personnel after July 2028.
"The terms of this agreement were available to ISU management on Feb. 10, when union members voted down the university's takeaway demands, and on April 7, when we met with the mediator before our strike deadline," said AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch.
"Instead, management chose a path of conflict and division that brought hardship to workers, disruption to students and a stain on ISU's name.
The union said it will drop its lawsuit against the university that accused it of hiring strikebreakers. Also as part of the settlement, AFSCME plans to withdraw its claims of unfair labor practices it filed against the university.
The contract agreement ends the longest strike in ISU's history for a single bargaining unit. Workers walked out on April 8.
The long stalemate prompted a number of elected officials, including Gov. JB Pritzker, to urge the university and union to come to the bargaining table and end the strike.
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