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Union Recognition

Stevenson University Cafeteria Workers Win Union

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 14:48
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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.

 

 

A Year-End Update from DePaul Student Leaders

Submitted by Kyle Schafer on Fri, 06/18/2010 - 11:12
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[Editor’s Note: This end-of-the-year update from the DePaul Living Wage Campaign comes from DePaul students Pamela Barrientos and Alyssa Wieting, both of whom were leaders of the campaign all year and will be returning in the fall.]

As our academic year wrapped up, our final event was a great success.  We decided to plan a faculty/staff luncheon, inviting many with whom we had met earlier in the year.  At the same time, for some of the faculty/staff this was their introduction to the living wage campaign.  The student organizer overseeing and directing the event, Jenna Bergevin (DePaul 2013) ran the luncheon smoothly and efficiently, adding another amazing event to the growing strength of our campaign.

Jenna began with a PowerPoint presentation outlining the progress of the campaign, and the next steps for the future.  Included were worker and student testimonies, on their experiences and connection to DePaul and the Living Wage Campaign.  The staff/faculty engaged in the presentation by asking questions, brainstorming with us on enthusiastically agreed to start circulating petitions within their departments.

About two weeks before the Faculty Luncheon, around ten of our student committee members were able to attend the Board of Trustees Brunch. This was an important event to attend as the most the involved students on campus are invited to share their concerns, praises, and critiques of DePaul University to the trustees.  The brunch had a very inviting atmosphere as each student was assigned to a certain table with about three trustee members at each.  Prewritten questions were discussed as we casually ate brunch and talked.  Most students began with their praises of the university, and as the event progressed more critiques made their way to the surface.  The Living Wage campaign and our concerns of DePaul upholding its Vincentian mission was discussed at almost every table with a very positive response from trustee members.  It was obvious that they were interested in the work we were doing and gave many of us their support as they wished us the best in our endeavors.

Finally, a few weeks ago our organizers were blessed to be able to share the joy of officially recognizing Unite Here Local 1 as the official union for Chartwells workers at DePaul.  Congratulations to all of the workers.  Together we are strong, and ready to take on the challenge recognizing and bringing justice to worker's rights at DePaul.

 

Food Service Workers at Sarah Lawrence College Win Union Recognition!

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 12:52
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Last Friday the food service workers at Sarah Lawrence College were officially recognized as UNITE HERE Local 100 members. 75% of the workers, employees of AVI Foodsystems, signed a union authorization card. This is a great victory for the workers who, along with food service workers at Hunter College and the University of Southern California, had to struggle to get it.  Next up for the Sarah Lawrence workers…contract negotiations. We’ll keep you up-to-date as that unfolds, and we’ll post video of worker and student reaction to the initial Sarah Lawrence victory soon.   

In the meantime, here's a repost of the student-worker delegation at Sarah Lawrence that preceded the workers winning a neuatrality agreement from AVI by one day:  

 

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