AMHERST — The number 8 featured prominently outside the UMass Campus Center Thursday afternoon, where dozens of faculty and staff gathered for an eight-minute protest calling on some of the state’s top lawmakers to follow through with 8% raises for 60,000 state employees.

The eight minutes of action event included several speakers who detailed their personal financial struggle without the 4% cost-of-living raise that was supposed to go into effect July 1 — with another 4% increase slated to kick in Jan. 1 — with one academic adviser saying she only has $100 left at the end of each month.

Union members and representatives from seven UMass unions held signs with the phrase “Lawmakers: Do your jobs” and chanted demands to receive withheld wages now as cold season heating and electric bills in the winter months further strain financially overburdened staff members.

“Eight minutes for 8% is a great way to frame things,” said Nellie Taylor, associate director at the UMass Labor Center. “Come out, make some noise, show you are tired of waiting for your raises and get some of that frustration out and be seen standing up for the money that we have already earned that is stuck in the Legislature.”

Unions across the state, including American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME Local 1776), University Staff Association (USA), Professional Staff Union (PSU), Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP) and Postdoctoral Researchers Organizing (PRO), which were represented at Thursday’s event, earlier this year negotiated a one-year extension to expired three-year contracts.

Gov. Maura Healey included $300 million in a supplementary budget in September to fund the raises across 95 contracts.

The supplemental budget has been stalled in the Legislature since then, but just before Thursday’s protest, House and Senate Democrats agreed on a $2.8 billion supplemental budget deal that includes the funding for public employee raises. But because Democrats did not complete a deal before formal sessions ended for the year, Republicans now can block passage of the bill with a single objection.

House Republicans boldly declared Wednesday they would “strongly oppose” efforts to approve the bill “in its entirety in an informal session, minus any meaningful policy reforms.”

“It’s general State House dysfunction. It’s been happening for decades. It’s not a new story, it’s just now it’s affecting 60,000 people,” Taylor said. “They could have voted on it before Thanksgiving, and they didn’t.”

UMass employees struggle to make ends meet with their current wages, according to those who spoke at the protest. AFSCME Local 1776 Co-Chair Nick Chavez said most employees have a second job to supplement their income working full-time at the university. Carley Paleologopoulos, a union representative and assistant director of advising, said members cannot keep up with rent increases and delayed car repairs, while professor Laura Briggs said she’s seen a faculty member break down on the Faculty Senate floor about not receiving her raises in the face of rising housing costs.

“My rent has gone up. My student loans have come into play because of government failures. My raises are being delayed because of government failures, and I’m doing my job every day,” said Cody Olson, academic adviser and union representative. “I need the people who I elected to represent me to do their job every day so I can actually live here in western Massachusetts.”

Union leaders on Thursday implored staff to call and pressure Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz to call an emergency session.

The money for raises was delayed because part of the supplemental budget included funding for controversial emergency shelter funding for migrant families. Now Republican lawmakers can stall the bill until next year.

“Now there are Republicans in the Legislature who are threatening to veto the passing of the budget over them not wanting to fund housing for immigrants,” said Brad Turner, PSU co-chair. “They’re using people who desperately need help as a bargaining chip and threatening all of these state workers’ raises.”

Chavez agreed. “It’s disrespectful for our people to show up every day and do their jobs when we see our managers and our state leaders having gotten 20 to 40% raises and we’re fighting for the 8% we already got? That’s an injustice.”