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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.

Hunter College Fights Back Against Tuition Hikes

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 14:37
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[Editor’s note: This post was written by Hunter College students, Mike Synan and Claudia O’Brien. Last year at Hunter College, students and workers stood together to demand that the cafeteria workers not lose their full family health benefits. Now students at Hunter, and throughout the CUNY system, are fighting back against tuition hikes.]

Last year the CUNY Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition by 5% in the spring and up to another 5% in the fall. In addition Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a budget that includes massive cuts to the CUNY system. All of this comes on top of a string of budget cuts and tuition hikes that has resulted in a 51% increase since 2000.

However, students have a long history of fighting these attacks. Beginning in 1969 when Black and Latino students initiated the Open Admissions strike, CUNY was free and open to all. Only a few years later tuition was implemented; the first year that students of color were a majority in CUNY.   Militantly carving a space for themselves in the CUNY system starting with the gains of the Open Admissions struggle, students of color have been the focus of these attacks.

Recently students at Hunter College formed the group Hunter Fights Back in order to continue that struggle. Last semester Hunter Fights Back started a petition demanding that Hunter College President Jennifer Raab take a stand against the budget cuts and tuition hikes.

Students are also asking President Raab to support the cafeteria workers and make sure that their contract is honored. This demand was included because the interests of students and workers are intertwined. The petition will be presented to President Raab later in the spring. Regardless of the President’s response students and workers will continue to fight and work to unite their struggles—as the global economic crisis continues there is no doubt that these attacks on our livelihoods will keep coming.  

Photo via wallg's Flickr Photostream

"What do we want? Jobs back!! When do we want them? Now!"

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Wed, 03/02/2011 - 20:03
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....a cry that echoed across the Bronx Community College campus yesterday afternoon.

The rally in defense of the cafeteria workers' jobs at BCC yesterday was awesome.  I'll post more when I get a chance to breathe (and hopefully some video of some powerful speeches).  For now here are a couple of great pictures.

A picture of the group of workers who are fighting to get their jobs back:

 

And of workers, students, faculty and community members marching through the heart of campus:

 

You can sign a petition supporting these men and women, no matter what school you are affiliated with, right at http://stiritupcampaign.org/bccpetition.  (Share this link!)

Defend (For-Profit?) Education

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Fri, 01/07/2011 - 13:38
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Over the past 15 months students—from California to New York—have organized large scale demonstrations protesting budget cuts and tuition hikes at public universities.  This loose network of students, unions and community activists unites under the banner: Defend Public Education. 

Public education is a great tradition in this country. Unfortunately the recent economic downturn has resulted in cuts to public institutions and threatened the American principle that a good public education should be available and affordable for all who are determined to take advantage of it.  The response of students across the country has been powerful and far-reaching.  The call echoed from coast to coast:  Hands off Higher Education!

In related news, last week the Republican Party—the majority in the House for the first time since 2006—announced the appointment of Representative Virginia Foxx to the Higher Education subcommittee.  Based on The Huffington Post’s analysis of Foxx’s record, students’ call to defend public education might not resonate in this particular committee. 

Read more

Heidi High-Tops Demands Contract Transparency

Submitted by Hannah Caruso on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 11:18
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Check out our Contract Database for university food service contracts that we already have.  

Museum on Wheels: Farmworkers Travel to Tell their Story

Submitted by Hannah Caruso on Thu, 08/12/2010 - 15:57
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The abuses of the corporate food service industry are heinous. Farmworkers know this all too well.  On farms in Florida they have been held captive in involuntary servitude. Physically intimidated. And denied fresh air and access to bathrooms. 
 
Our friends at the Student Farmworker Alliance (a partner of the CIW or Coalition of Imokalee Workers) have been working hard to broadcast this message. 
 
A horrifying article in Labor Notes slams these circumstances.  The article narrates a visit to the “Modern Slavery Museum” a traveling project of the CIW:
 
“The trailer, which already feels uncomfortably small, is a replica of one in southwest Florida where 12 farmworkers were forcibly kept between 2005 and 2007. Locked in at night, they had no place to relieve themselves and were forced to foul a corner of their cramped quarters. When someone fought back, he was beaten and chained to a pole. The chain and padlock, still twisted from when workers finally forced it off, rest on the trailer’s wall.”
 
Though the struggle for justice continues, the CIW won a great victory last spring; in no small part due to the Student Farmworker Alliance. Last school year, student activism on campuses across the country pressured Aramark and Compass Group—two of the three largest food service management companies in the world—to reach an agreement with the CIW; an agreement that will result in better working conditions for Florida farm workers.
 
This is a great testament to the power of students to take control of food service on their campuses. And a reminder that, in a world of multi-national food corporations, student action on one end of the country can have an effect thousands of miles away.

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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