Cornell Strike

There’s a big strike going on at Cornell, as anyone who watched Shawn Fain’s speech at the DNC knows. Cornell is going all-in on scabbing when it can, starting with the president. And of course there’s lots of whining about move-in.

With students moving back in on August 19, UAW members and some of Cornell’s incoming freshman students have criticized how the campus services have been pulled back, posting pictures of their less-than-satisfactory lunches and new university president Michael Kotlikoff working a shift at the Ithaca campus’s Morrison dining hall.

The university announced the closure of Cornell Dining eateries to those without a meal plan on Friday, cutting grab-and-go options for staff “to maximize the dining experience for students,” and has sent out requests for interested University retirees to return to work.

In a Sunday update, Cornell stated the “style of service and menu items … may be impacted” in Cornell dining rooms.

What do the UAW represented workers want?

 In a historic turnout, workers at Cornell University voted by 94% to authorize a strike if necessary. The contract covers more than 1,200 custodians, groundskeepers, cooks, food service workers, greenhouse workers, gardeners, mechanics and others and expired on June 30. 

The membership, made up of maintenance and facilities workers, dining workers, gardeners, custodians, transportation workers and others, are facing declining real wages even as Cornell’s endowment has ballooned, and tuition revenue has skyrocketed. Over the past four years, Cornell’s endowment has soared 39% to nearly $10 billion and tuition has increased 13% – all while workers’ buying power has fallen 5%.  

Many of the workers have had to move out of Ithaca to afford housing and must pay expensive parking fees to park on campus. The wage for most at the university is less than $22 per hour, far lower than what economists estimate it costs for a family to live in the region. The compensation for top administrators exceeded $12.4 million in 2022. 

But, you know, how can we ask such things from such an impoverished institution like Cornell?

Cornell’s endowment achieved a 3.6% return in the fiscal year ending June 30, adding a net investment gain of $355 million to finish the year valued at just over $10 billion, according to the Office of University Investments.

With the investment gain in FY 2023, the endowment has returned an annualized 9.3% over the past five years, exceeding its benchmark by 1.9% per year.

“The university concluded the fiscal year with a solid return relative to the environment,” said Chief Investment Officer Kenneth Miranda. “We attribute this performance to our work since 2016 to diversify the university’s investment portfolio and strategies, reduce fees, and enhance liquidity and flexibility.”

Clearly there’s no money to be found for workers to have a living wage!