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Student-Worker Solidarity

Shaping a Movement over a Meal

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Thu, 06/09/2011 - 16:11
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Students and Workers Eat-In for a Just and Sustainable Food Movement
by Hnin Hnin and Kyle Schafer

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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!)

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Dining Hall Workers Rally at Harvard University

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 15:04
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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.

A Good Read!

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Sat, 04/02/2011 - 16:57
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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

 

Join Slow Food and Stir It Up in a Month of Eat-Ins!

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Wed, 03/23/2011 - 13:15
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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!

 

Cafeteria Workers at Bronx Community College Rally to Defend Jobs

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 18:29
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Yesterday afternoon, the cafeteria workers at Bronx Community College found themselves without their old job after their employer CulinArt lost its food service contract with the College. The workers--who have worked at BCC for up to 15 years--are taking a stand to defend their jobs.  All they are asking is that the company that takes over at BCC (as of now, unknown) offer to rehire all of the workers.  On Tuesday they are rallying with the students and faculty of Bronx Community College. Here's the info:

What: Cafeteria workers at Bronx Community College rally to keep jobs

Where: Main entrance to BCC at University Ave. (near 181st St.)

When:  Tuesday March 1st at 12:00 noon

 

Breaking News at DePaul: Dining Workers Win Improved Health Benefits and Wages!

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 12:08
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"Even with all the obstacles that we went through...we stood together....and we got a great contract."            -Chanteen Hardaway, Campus Dining Worker, DePaul University
 
After several difficult months of organizing and negotiating, the campus dining workers at DePaul, members of UNITE HERE Local 1, won an agreement with their employer Chartwells (Compass Group) that gives them vast improvements in wages, health benefits and immigration protection language.  The contract was ratified last night by a 68 to 0 vote! 
 
DePaul is the largest Catholic University in the United States.  The DePaul students' insistence that the DePaul administration uphold Catholic values of social justice was instrumental in the campaign's success.  [To hold all Catholic Universities accountable to this standard, sign our national letter to Catholic administrators.]
 
The DePaul student body supported the workers with a campus Living Wage Campaign throughout the entire process.  Last semester, in addition to putting on a student-worker concert to build support for a Living Wage, students addressed their concerns to the DePaul Board of Trustees and, in a powerful show of solidarity, personally delivered a 1,500-signature-strong petition to the President of DePaul.
 
The result of the student-worker solidarity:  
  • Fully provided single-coverage health plan for 80 full-time workers by the end of the contract; and only $85 per month for full family coverage.
  • Minimum wages of between $11.80 and $14.30 per hour (depending on job classification) for presently employed workers by the end of the contract.  Right now workers make as little as $9.25 per hour. 
  • Contract language that protects immigrants from employer abuse, including clauses ensuring that the employees will not be disciplined for Social Security no-match letters, that the employer will limit immigration status checks to what I-9 forms require, and that employees have a 2-year window to return to their job in the case of immigration problems.
A great contract, and a great campaign.  The DePaul Living Wage Campaign of 2010 had a huge impact on both the students and the workers who were involved.  
 
At last week's celebratory BBQ, students and workers had an opportunity to reflect on their experience.  Check out the video and then find out how you can get involved on your campus! 
 

With this huge victory under its belt the DePaul Living Wage Campaign will continue to work with the university administration to improve the university's campus-wide living wage policy.

Students and Workers Defend Education at William Paterson University

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Fri, 10/08/2010 - 16:21
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Last Thursday was a big day in the fight against budget cuts in public education.  Students, faculty and other members of campus communities rallied together in a national day of action to defend public education.  Rallies took place all over the country; and I was lucky enough to participate in the action at William Paterson University, which was organized by the WPU Young Democratic Socialists along with other student organizations.

Along with me were the WPU campus dining workers, who used their lunchtime break to come out and rally with the student protesters.  The workers, who are serviced by UNITE HERE Local 100, came out mostly as supporters of the student protests against rising tuition and other effects of cuts in funding, but also to express their concern over how budget cuts will affect their own jobs. 

It was great to see the campus workers standing in solidarity with students over student-related concerns. This expression of solidarity is the kind of moment that the Building Community Across Counters campaign is all about.  Here's a video of the student march across campus.  As you'll see participation and enthusiasm were tremendous. 

Building Community Across Counters: A New Campaign from Stir It Up

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Mon, 10/04/2010 - 12:41
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 Building Community Across Counters
 

The Struggle for Economic Justice in University Food Service

 

 
Build your Campus Community!
What do you know about your campus dining workers? 


Too often, students' answer is "not much."


Divisions that plague our society - divisions of class, race, gender, immigration status and more - are often showcased in dining halls. Meanwhile, poverty wages and inadequate benefits are all too common, so these workers and their families are often forced to live without the basic necessities many students, faculty and staff have, including access to affordable healthcare.  


In response to this injustice, UNITE HERE and its student allies in the Stir It Up network are launching a new campaign to change the way that dining workers are viewed and treated on college campuses:  Building Community Across Counters.


 

Support Workers at Catholic Universities!

Workers at a number of Catholic Universities are organizing with UNITE HERE to win fair wages, affordable health care and respect!

Support these workers' quest for a decent standard of living and sign a solidarity letter that calls upon Catholic universities to adhere to Catholic social justice principles; and to support the unionization of campus dining workers.
Students everywhere can get involved in the effort to include university food service workers in the campus community. Here are the three main components to the Building Community Across Counters project:

1.  Stronger Relationships
2.  An End to Invisibility
3.  Standing in Solidarity
 
How you enact these principles is up to you and the answer will surely be different on each campus. You can get ideas from the Building Community Across Counters pamphlet which includes projects like organizing a meal with food service workers (Stronger Relationships), writing a worker profile for the campus paper (Ending Invisibility) and helping workers in the fight for economic justice (Solidarity). 


Throughout the year, the Stir It Up website will also be providing examples of what students are doing to build inclusive campus communities.


 A History of Success

 Last year UNITE HERE's campus allies set a great example of how students can achieve powerful social change in the food service industry. Students played an integral role in all of the following campaigns:

  • New Organizing: Campus dining workers at Sarah Lawrence College forced an incoming company to recognize their union. 

  • Good jobs: Workers at University of Southern California won a contract with raises of up to $2.45 per hour.
  • Ending invisibility: Workers ended the silence about campus food service jobs at Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and Coppin State University.
  • Affordable Health Care: At Hunter College workers successfully fought back against a company attempt to take away their full family health benefits.
  • Building a movement: At DePaul University, the campus dining workers organized mass support for a living wage. The campaign continues so stay tuned for updates.


Get Involved!

Students from universities from all over the country recently gathered in Chicago to plan how to bring economic justice to their campus.  Join them and build a campaign on your campus! Follow Stir It Up on Facebook or Twitter for descriptions, pictures and videos of the actions that students are taking to break down the artificial barriers and build real campus communities.   

Pomona College Dining Workers Fight for a Union

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:28
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The campus dining workers at Pomona College are fighting to win a union.  And the Pomona students have their back.  

On March 1st of this year the campus dining workers at Pomona College went public in their demand for a fair unionization process, free of employer intimidation.  Over 90% of the College's dining workers have signed a petition to the College administration demanding such a process.  Since that day the students of Pomona College have stood in solidarity with the workers.  The student-worker solidarity website, Pomona Workers for Justice has chronicled this effort every step of the way.

So far the administration of Pomona College--which employs the workers-- has refused to honor the workers' demand.  

If last semester is any indication, the students and workers will not let the College's position stand.  In just several months the Pomona Worker for Justice staged a large rally on campus, had a candlelight vigil for labor peace, organized a boycott of the cafeteria and gathered in large numbers to present their petitions to Pomona President David Oxtoby.  They also produced tremendous videos of the action.  

The petition action:




And here's the students' take on what happened at the rally:

 

The struggle for justice at Pomona College is right in line with how UNITE HERE and the Stir It Up campaign are fighting to change the food service industry. Expect regular updates on Stir It Up as this campaign unfolds.  And if you want to get in touch with the student-worker committee at Pomona to hear more about how they've helped organize the workers' campaign, you can do so here.  

Cafeteria Workers, Students and Allies Struggle for a Union at Carleton University

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Wed, 06/30/2010 - 20:55
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Campus cafeteria workers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario are standing up to form a union and improve their lives.  Students, faculty and other unions are standing up in solidarity with them. 
 
Aramark, the campus food service provider, is standing in the way.
 
“The Carleton University Students’ Association has been disappointed to hear repeatedly from many of our members who are employed at Aramark that Aramark has threatened and intimidated them for exercising their rights to speech and association in attempting to form a union outside company time,” said Alex Sirois, President of the Carleton University Students’ Association in a press release after the Association passed a motion in support of the cafeteria workers.
 
UNITE HERE Local 261 has already filed unfair labour practice charges against Aramark alleging targeted layoffs for known union supporters, surveillance, threats and interrogations.  But Aramark’s intimidation against the campaign extends beyond the workforce – student allies have reported being harassed by Aramark managers as well.
 
Marco Zigliotti, a second-year student at Carleton, wrote the University Security about his experience with Aramark managers:
 
I would like to report unusual and what I believe to be inappropriate conduct on the part of Aramark Carleton managers at the Fresh Food Company cafeteria in Residence Commons on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
 
On that day, I and four other students ate at the Fresh Food Company wearing stickers in support of Aramark worker’s rights. Hundreds of people on campus have been wearing these stickers in response to what many Aramark workers have described as intimidating and threatening letters to scare people away from joining a union. 
 
The other students and I eating were made to feel like unwelcome visitors in our own university. After entering the Fresh Food Company, we were each watched and followed very closely by Aramark managers, who numbered eight, and who stood close by as we were served by employees. 
 
When we sat down, all the managers followed us and sat on either side of our table, watching us closely the whole time. This made myself and the other students feel extremely uncomfortable. Ensuring that campus is safe for all is the job of University Security, and we could not understand why Aramark managers were effectively policing us and treating us as a threat, or how that could be appropriate on our campus.
 
Locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) on Carelton’s campus have added their voice as well, creating a united voice on campus representing over 8000 unionized employees and 20000 undergraduate and graduate students.  The coalition of unions and students, called Campus United, sent a letter to University President Roseann Runte, available here.
 
Meanwhile, Olivia Chow, Member of Parliament for Trinity-Spadina, Toronto, and Citizenship and Immigration critic for the New Democratic Party, came to campus to meet with students and workers about the conditions and has pledged her support.
 
The campaign on the ground is unfolding quickly, but we’ll do our best to keep this site updated with the latest news.
 
 

 

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