A sigh of relief was heard across campus this weekend when a tentative agreement was reached between representatives of the Communications Workers of America OSU Local 4501 and Ohio State administrators on Friday.

Meal services in the dining commons for brunch and dinner reopened for regular weekend hour service times on Saturday. Students and staff who came to eat were still required to pay for the dinner instead of returning to the Buck ID meal plan.

The people who did attend dinner and brunch were given a 35 percent discount off the normal fee if payment was made with the funds on their Buck IDs.

Although regular employees of the dining commons were not expected to return to work until Monday, some decided to cross the picket line and return to work early at the North Commons, according to one of the managers who wished to remain anonymous.

“We are happy that the people came back and that employees returned,” the manager said.

More than 200 people came to the North Commons for brunch on Sunday and the normal amount of students are expected to return to the commons for lunch Monday.

“We had a nice crowd, a lot of people came back early,” the manager said.

Unlike the North Commons, Baker Commons did not have a good turnout for brunch or dinner this weekend. Union employees did not return to work early.

“We had student employees and three temporary employees working. A regular manager did the cooking,” said Chelsie Rhodes, evening manager at the Baker Commons. “We expect to start getting busy at lunch (on Monday).”

Full dining common operations will resume, including Buckeye Express and cafeteria-style meal service today. The normal meal plan service will be in use and reimbursements will cease to be issued onto Buck IDs for students on meal plans.

Other services on campus are expected to return to normal after strike lines are abandoned such as vending machine restocking, package delivery and campus and university mail services.

A letter was delivered to residence hall students from Bill Hall, assistant vice president of Student Affairs.

He expressed his happiness that a tentative agreement had been reached and said a quick return to normal operations was expected. He also asked students to realize that this has been a difficult time for all university employees and thanked them for their patience and understanding during the strike.On the net