NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) — ISU students organized a walk-out Thursday to show their support for the AFSCME Local 1110 workers on strike.
The walkout started at one p.m. on the quad of Illinois State University. Around 100 students and workers on strike attended. The goal was to show the administration at ISU that the students are supporting the workers.
“Even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference with admin, even though I hope it does. I really hope it just shows everybody that students can do more,” said Alyssa Rundqust, a student organizer for the walkout. “They have a bigger say than what they really feel like. With the staff, we actually support them, and we appreciate them for what they do.”
The students gathered to make signs, learn chants, and to show their support to the workers. The walkout was not intended to show any hate, but to give a boost to the workers who have been on strike for more than two weeks.
“It was mainly just for their morale,” Rundqust said. “It wasn’t really meant to be any sort of hate; it was just to show what we’ve been through, what the staff has been through, and that we support them as well and to show them that it’s not just them alone.”
Rundqust said that they have seen significant impacts from the strike, and that every student has their own experience with the impacts.
“My personal experience, I’ve experienced trash overflow, not enough paper towels, toilet paper in the bathrooms and moldy food issues I’ve seen. I know everybody else has their own experience as well,” she said.
Students marched across the quad and ended in front of Hovey Hall, where the administrative offices are held.
“Right now. I’m just hoping that this community just shows the students and the workers that we can all come together and support the workers who make ISU work,” Rundqust said.
Union members also took their concerns to the Capitol on Thursday. They stood out in front of ISU’s annual budget hearing. The hearing was to discuss the budgets for next year.
Many lawmakers in Springfield have also openly shown their support for the workers on strike.
WMBD TV first reported on this story. You can find the original story online at CIProud.com.
