EVANSTON, IL – Bad pay and worse benefits are why Northwestern University dining hall workers went on strike here Monday morning. Five hundred dining hall workers, members of UniteHere! Local 1 voted to authorize the strike on Feb. 27.
Dining hall workers are essential to student life and food, according to a statement issued by Students Organized for Labor Rights, a campus organization.
The strike is resulting in fewer open dining halls, frozen food, and limited food options.
Barbara, with 10 years on the job, told People’s World she never knows her schedule ahead of time and it is subject to frequent changes. A fair contract, she said, would include a set schedule. Presently, workers only get five vacation days a year. Increasing employer contribution to pensions is also important to her. Her co-worker Avion added that employees should not have to pay to park and that better wages are a priority. The average wage for workers like him with five years of experience is $20 an hour.
Even though the strikers clearly serve the Northwestern community, technically they are employed by Compass, an international corporation that contracts with Northwestern. Through such contracting arrangements, over the years the cafeteria workers have seen a series of employers.
Whenever the university changes contractors, the workers are subject to losing their jobs. To address this injustice, the city of Evanston recently passed an ordinance protecting workers in large institutions so that when a vendor changes the new one is required to retain the workers.
Unite Here Local 1 wants the contract to include the same protections for workers at the Northwestern downtown Chicago campus.
“The striking Unite Here members are essential workers,” Summer, a member of the Graduate Workers Union of UE told People’s World. She urged other students to blame the university and Compass, not strikers or temps, for frozen food replacing the university eating halls’ previously healthy offerings.
Campus solidarity was on display from the picket line as workers loudly thanked students for their support. Students Organizing for Labor Rights (SOLR) members handed out fliers urging their fellow students to stand with workers.
“Your voice matters!” read the flyer. “Email your parents, alumni, faculty, and classmates to urge them to demand that Compass sign a fair contract.” SOLR has been active on campus since 2018, instrumental in mobilizing students to join the broader labor movement.
Meanwhile, no Unite Here members have crossed the picket line and neither have Teamster food delivery drivers. Food suppliers U.S. Foods and SYSCO have had to resort to having supervisors drive their trucks and drop the pallets on docks.
Strikers and their supporters are on the line from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily. The main picket line is at the “arc” at the University’s main entrance at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue.
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