With less than two weeks before final exams, unionized graduate student workers at the biggest university in the nation’s third-largest city are on an indefinite strike.

The work stoppage at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) began on Monday after a year of stalled contract negotiations between the university administration and the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO). It comes at the same time that graduate workers at Indiana University are on strike for union recognition.

This is the second time in three years that the GEO has gone on strike. In March 2019, grad workers brought normal operations at UIC to a halt for nearly three weeks before winning their best contract since first unionizing in 2004. The current strike is in many ways a sequel to that struggle, as grad workers continue demanding higher wages and lower fees in the face of an ever-rising cost of living.