Kyle Schafer
Dearest Stir It Up followers,
We're moving! Today we launched a new website, www.realfoodrealjobs.org, and it is quite awesome. Please mark your bookmarks accordingly and find us on Facebook and Twitter too!
See you there!
Kyle Schafer
Students on countless campuses are working to get their schools and dining halls to match their values. Whether that means supporting local farmers or ensuring that cafeteria workers can honestly support their families, building a just food system is critical for our health, our economy and our communities.
But behind the buffet lines and café counters on college campuses across the world lurks a massive industry. You’ve heard the names: Sodexo, Aramark, Chartwells, Bon Appetit, Parkhurst... In order to be successful in our organizing efforts, we all need to have a solid understanding of how the industry works and how we might best impact it.
Well, now is your chance to learn the basics through a workshop curriculum developed jointly by UNITE HERE’s Stir It Up Campaign and the Real Food Challenge! You can download the curriculum here, and if you want, a helpful powerpoint to go with it.
This workshop covers a variety of topics, including a run-down of the major companies involved in outsourced food service, universities’ relationship to those companies and major problems in the industry ranging from worker rights to the organization of the food service supply chain.
The best part, though, explains why students are in the perfect position to change the entire food system, starting right on campus.
For example, did you know that in 2008 in the United States alone, campus food service was an $18 billion industry? Or that campus food service brings in 32% of the total annual revenue for all outsourced food service in the United States? That’s more than food service at stadiums, commercial office buildings, industrial plants, or any other industry segment! (You can download a handout with this information here!)
We think facts like these are powerful and that’s why we made the curriculum for you to use with your campus or community group.
We also know that if we are going to create the change we seek, we’ll need to keep building connections with each other. Real Food Challenge, a leading voice for students and youth seeking change in campus food service, and UNITE HERE, a labor union with thousands of members in the food service industry, collaborated to create this curriculum because we share the belief that a truly just food system not only creates food that sustains our bodies and communities but also jobs where workers are treated with dignity and respect.
If you want to get more involved in our campaigns, or if you have questions about using the workshop curriculum on your own, please contact us! You can reach David Schwartz from the Real Food Challenge at david [at] realfoodchallenge.org or Kyle Schafer from UNITE HERE at kschafer [at] unitehere.org. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you!
Download the curriculum. Download the powerpoint.
Kyle Schafer
Students and Workers Eat-In for a Just and Sustainable Food Movement
by Hnin Hnin and Kyle Schafer
It’s called the food movement, but what does that really mean? Last month, students and campus dining workers came together to show us that it’s about building community and making change.
When Slow Food on Campus and UNITE HERE’s Stir It Up Campaign celebrated National Food Month together with Eat-Ins across the country, it signaled a small but inspiring convergence of two worlds.
Over 300 people participated in 6 Eat-Ins hosted by students and local union members at Northwestern, Wesleyan, and Harvard and Yale (jointly) and by SFOC chapters at Hamilton, Vassar, and Clemson. An Eat-In is part potluck, part protest. While each Eat-In was unique, they all shared the goal of building community to create change for good food and food workers—including everyone from the farmers who produce the food to the campus dining workers who serve it up.
(Hit the "read more" link for the full story!)<!--break-->
Harvard students and dining workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 26, were inspired to stand up for better food and better working conditions after driving down to New Haven for their Eat-In with counterparts at Yale and UNITE HERE Local 35. The Eat-In began with Yale worker and union member, Chef Stu Comen, sharing stories about union efforts to improve Yale’s food and how by working together, students and workers were able to create a national model for campus food service that promotes both sustainable food and sustainable jobs.
It’s not a new idea, but it is just now starting to grab the attention of the on-campus food movement: sustainable food and sustainable jobs are two sides of the same coin. The students and workers at the Wesleyan Eat-In agreed that the food on campus is increasingly local, sustainably-sourced, and cooked from scratch. One of the Wesleyan students, an environmental activist, thought more progress can be made by pushing for “complete visibility of food, knowing your farms and knowing the workers.” As we learn more about the connections between our food, environment and economy, it is clear that a good, clean, and fair food system must also be economically equitable. Inspired by their Eat-In with members of UNITE HERE Local 217, Wesleyan students committed to supporting the workers in future union contract negotiations. In solidarity, the dining workers expressed interest in volunteering at the student-run greenhouse farm.
A more just and sustainable food movement is possible if students and food workers build community to create change together. By teaming up with dining workers, students might find more success in changing campus food. Reflecting on the roadblocks her group faces in trying to sit down with dining administrators, Melissa Macher, one of the leaders of Slow Food Clemson University, said, “We want to merge ideas of Slow Food into our dining services—not only concerning food, but also workers rights...[We need to] lift the veil around our campus. The most surprising thing was that none of us know what the conditions are like for the food service workers. We don't know if they're happy or unhappy with their jobs, wages, and benefits. We discussed that and how its yet another way that we're disconnected from dining services.”
Food workers and students aren’t the only ones collaborating for better food and working conditions--they’re building a movement based on inclusion and solidarity--engaging their campuses as well as their local community:
- Reaching out to a campus environmental group, SEED, Northwestern University dining workers, who are members of UNITE HERE Local 1, and student leaders of a living wage campaign ate-in together.
- Slow Food Vassar students brought together over 120 college community members for their Eat-In, a collaborative campus initiative to promote awareness of food issues during Earth Week.
- Slow Food Hamilton students partnered with their local chapter, Slow Food Mohawk Valley, to organize over 70 students, local farmers, food activists, artisans and Bon Appetit workers to talk about the food movement in their area.
Connecting over a meal is a great first step to building community to create change, but there’s more work to do after the dishes are done. As the conversations and relationships built through these 6 unique but unified Eat-Ins take shape, the food movement might look no further than campus cafeterias and classrooms for a defining vision. Young people, food workers, and communities united, standing with each other for a more economically just and sustainable food system.
(You can also read a slightly different version of this post at Slow Food USA's blog.)
Ian Mikusko
A group of Local 35 members traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 12 to join in a rally with Harvard campus dining workers who are members of UNITE HERE Local 26.
Workers, students and community allies marched through Harvard Yard following a meeting between Harvard University officials and Local 26 as part of the union's contract negotiations. At the rally, the Local 35 delegation had an opportunity to talk about the differences between the Yale and Harvard contracts.
Local 26 President Brian Lang called union members' achievements in New Haven "a source of inspiration." Local 35 President Bob Proto encouraged the Harvard workers to fight for important gains in their next contract, noting that "there's a standard of quality of jobs that Harvard needs to raise up to Yale's."
Click here to read the article in The Harvard Crimson.
Ian Mikusko
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"I am very happy that we got fair pay increases, because it’s been so hard to get by in this down economy," said David Palacios, a 3-year CSUMB cook and member of the Local 483 negotiating committee. The agreement, the first at CSUMB with UNITE HERE Local 483, includes annual wage increases averaging $.40 per hour over the course of the 5-year contract. Food service workers, for example, would see a 24% overall increase in their hourly wages from $8.65 to $10.70. The contract also increases company contributions to the employee health insurance and pension plans, among other benefit improvements. Contract negotiations at CSUMB Food Services between the Union and Paris-based Sodexo began in August of last year. The new contract starts this past May 1, 2011 with the first wage increases applied retroactively to November 1, 2010.
Union workers at Cal State University Monterey Bay Food Services, members of UNITE HERE Local 483, approved a 5-year labor contract, which calls for $2.05 per hour in additional wages over the life of the agreement. The union members voted May 5 at CSUMB with 96% approval. The contract covers 60 Sodexo employees, including cooks, cashiers, waiters, bartenders, baristas, utility and food service workers."The key to winning this was the determination of these CSUMB workers. It’s their first contract with our union, and we are proud to have them on board," commented Local 483 Vice President, Hector Azpilcueta.
Click here to read the press release.
Kyle Schafer
Two weeks ago, more than 140 campus dining workers at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) have won union representation, choosing to join UNITE HERE Local 11.
"I've worked at LMU for 6 years and am so proud to have been part of winning the union. I love taking care of the students here and it was great to have their support. The opportunity for better wages and benefits will mean a lot to our families," said Tina Jones, a cashier at the C-Lion store at Loyola Marymount University.
Campus dining workers at LMU, the largest Catholic university on the West Coast, are employees of the multinational food service company Sodexo.
They are the latest group of campus dining workers to celebrate a victory with UNITE HERE in what has been a tremendous school year so far, especially at Catholic universities. Here’s a quick recap:
- In October, 2010, about 200 workers at Loyola University in Chicago won union representation with UNITE HERE Local 1. They joined the union local of the dining workers at DePaul University, who that same month won a great new contract featuring particular protections for immigrant workers.
- In November, 2010, campus dining workers at St. Peter’s in New Jersey won union recognition with UNITE HERE Local 100.
- In February, cafeteria workers at Dominican University near Chicago also won the union with UNITE HERE Local 1.
- Just last month, workers at Georgetown University won union recognition. There have been a number of good stories about the community involvement in that victory. We posted links to two of them: here and here.
- In April, Loyola Marymount is the third group of campus dining workers to win the union this month alone. Workers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and at Stevenson University in Baltimore joined as well!
With this kind of momentum, we here at Stir It Up are excited about what the next school year holds. Stay tuned! Or better yet, get involved!
Kyle Schafer
There's another great article out about the organizing led by students, faculty, campus dining workers and UNITE HERE at Georgetown University. This one, from America Magazine, notes that "for those familiar with union organizing, the relative civility of the campaign was notable. In large measure, this was because Georgetown took seriously its obligation to implement Catholic Social Teaching."
Check it out here: http://www.americamagazine.
Kyle Schafer
Baltimore, MD--More than 60 campus dining workers at Stevenson University have won union representation, choosing to join UNITE HERE Local 7. Campus dining workers at the Maryland liberal arts university are employees of the multinational food service company Sodexo.
The campus dining workers at Stevenson won union representation with UNITE HERE Local 7 on Friday, April 8th and will now prepare to negotiate a first contract.
"I've worked at Stevenson for 4 years and am so happy to have been part of winning the union. Now we're ready to negotiate our first contract. The opportunity for better wages and benefits will mean a lot to our families," said Steven Golder, a cafeteria cook at Stevenson.
The Stevenson workers are the fifth group of cafeteria workers at a college or university to win union representation with UNITE HERE in the past 5 months.
With UNITE HERE, the Stevenson workers join the leading union of food service workers in North America, joining dining workers from over 100 campuses across the United States and Canada. In joining UNITE HERE Local 7, the Stevenson workers join campus food service workers at a number of other Maryland campuses including Johns Hopkins University, Coppin State University, and Morgan State University.
Kyle Schafer
Here's a great piece about the combined efforts of students, faculty, campus dining workers and UNITE HERE at Georgetown University:
http://www.tnr.com/article/not-even-past/86091/labor-wisconsin-georgetown-protests
Kyle Schafer
April is National Food month, and there is surely no better way to celebrate than to spend a good meal talking about the connection between workers in the food chain and the food we eat every day. That’s why Slow Food on Campus and Stir It Up are working together to invite students to organize Eat-Ins, where students and workers can share food and their stories!
What is an Eat-In?
Eat-Ins are a powerful way to build community for social change. An Eat-In is a public gathering of people to share a meal they’ve cooked together, a declaration that food is our common language and a universal right, and a celebration of the people who work to feed and share food with others.
It is both a protest, in the spirit of the independence and civil rights movements of the last century, and a potluck, in the spirit of the good food movement. Eat-Ins have a long history, with various groups in the 1960s and 70s organizing protests where they occupied a space, ate something, and demanded change. The first Eat-In to celebrate and fight for good food took place on Labor day 2008 as part of Slow Food Nation, a gathering of over 80,000 people to celebrate and support the workers who make good, clean, and fair food possible.
Are you ready to take a stand for students and workers? Coordinate an Eat-In!
Steps to Making Your Eat-In a Success!
1. Support your local food community by purchasing good, clean, and fair food. Meet your farmers, grocers, and other food workers.
2. Invite your old and new friends into your kitchen to cook. Invite other friends to cook in other kitchens. Five or five hundred people can Eat-In.
3. Reach out to as many people as possible and invite them to share the meal. Don’t be afraid to start new friendships and alliances.
4. Set your table in a public space, such as a park or in front of a dining hall.
5. Eat together and invite everyone to consider the following questions:
- What is worker justice, and what does it have to do with transforming the food system?
- Is the food you’re eating good, clean, and fair? What kind of food does our current food and farming system support?
- How does our current food system impact the people who work to feed us? Are food workers compensated fairly and respected on the job?
- What does student-worker solidarity mean to you?
6. Don’t forget to take videos or photos from your Eat-In and send us reports! We’ll make sure everyone in the Slow Food and Stir It Up networks share in the energy of your Eat-In.
Let us know if you’re up for holding an Eat-In at your school. Making them happen around the country will be a great way to kick-start an important dialogue between the slow food movement and the food workers movement!
