Minneapolis park workers will remain on strike for the foreseeable future, a union leader announced at a rally on Wednesday.

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board employees represented by LIUNA Local 363 were set to return to work on Thursday, but the strike will now continue past its original seven-day time frame.

“We hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but that was up to [MPRB Superintendent Al Bangoura] and the board, and here we are,” A.J. Lange, the union’s business manager, said.

Lange says negotiations with Park Board leadership have been ongoing for seven months and have not progressed over the past week.

“As recently as yesterday, I received a response from Al, in writing, saying, ‘No, I will not come back to the table and negotiate,'” Lange said.

In a statement to park commissioners on Wednesday, Bangoura said he wants union membership to vote on the Park Board’s final offer — and either accept it or reject it — before the board returns to the bargaining table. He argues the current offer would pay Minneapolis workers as well or better than comparable positions in the metro.

“A very fair offer has been proposed and 363 leadership refuses to bring it to their members for vote,” Bangoura said. “Why won’t they bring it for a vote instead of unilaterally holding their members to a strike?”

Union members began their strike on the July Fourth holiday, one of the busiest days for Minneapolis parks, and the Minnesota Orchestra canceled a concert at the Lake Harriet Bandshell on Monday in solidarity with the workers.

Earlier this week, LIUNA Local 363 filed an unfair labor practices charge against the MPRB, claiming board members interfered in employees’ right to participate in a strike.

Parks employees — who maintain Minneapolis’ parks, recreation centers and golf courses — are demanding a wage adjustment of $5 per hour to better meet the market rate, along with more benefits and better working conditions.

The MPRB extended its last, best and final offer to union membership on July 1, which included a 10.25% wage increase over three years and additional market adjustments for 13 positions that would affect 178 employees.

A parks spokesperson said for some jobs, the proposed market adjustment would amount to almost a 15% raise over three years and would represent more than a $5 per hour wage increase.

Through the next three years, the union proposal would cost about $2 million more than the MPRB offer, according to figures shared by parks officials.