USC housing workers called off a strike planned for Wednesday after reaching a tentative agreement with the university.
The five-year contract, which workers ratified Tuesday, will raise wages, improve work schedules and introduce new job rights and protections for employees.
This is the third strike that the university has narrowly avoided in the last year, after USC shuttle drivers threatened to strike in May and graduate students picketed six months earlier.
“We are pleased that we were able to reach a contract agreement with our maintenance workers at USC Housing after a negotiation session on Monday,” USC Housing said in an email statement.
Last June, about 30 maintenance employees, painters, technicians and customer service representatives voted to join the Service Employees International Union under SEIU Local 721. On Thursday, they threatened to walk off the job over what they called unfair labor practices by USC.
Workers had also previously filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board saying the university retaliated against their unionization by ending yearly merit-based raises. They also alleged “bad-faith bargaining tactics” by the university.