A coalition of student organizations supporting Northeastern University’s food service workers coordinated a media blast campaign Thursday urging students to call, tweet and email Northeastern’s president, Joseph Aoun, in an effort to improve dining hall workers’ contracts.
Northeastern food service workers who are are part of UNITE HERE Local 26 — a union of food, hotel and other service employees in Massachusetts — have been discussing an improved contract since April. These workers voted Wednesday night to officially go on strike Oct. 11 if their requests are not met, wrote the Northeastern coalition Huskies Organizing with Labor, in a Facebook message.
HOWL ran the #SupportTheStrike campaign as part of the group’s larger purpose of securing livable income and affordable healthcare for dining hall workers.
Matthew McDonald, assistant vice president of marketing and communications at Northeastern, wrote in an email that the food service vendor who pays their employees has agreed to increase wages.
“It is Northeastern’s understanding that its food service vendor, Chartwells Schools Dining Services, has offered to increase wages for dining hall workers by 27 percent over the next five years,” McDonald wrote.
McDonald wrote pay will be increased gradually to the requested annual amount of $35,000 and the dining hall employees will still be receiving the healthcare they currently have.
“Chartwells will also continue to provide a very generous health-care benefit by which 90 percent of employee premiums are paid by the employer,” McDonald wrote.
McDonald wrote Chartwells has assured Northeastern dining operations will continue without disruption for students, faculty and staff who rely on them on a day-to-day basis.
“It is the University’s hope that in the coming days, union leaders and Chartwells will reach an amicable agreement,” McDonald wrote.
Vanessa Snow, an organizer at the Greater Boston Labor Council, said prestigious institutions of higher education like Northeastern have money to pay their employees more and should be doing so.
“We believe that anybody who works should be earning a living wage,” Snow said. “We also believe that healthcare is a right. The Greater Boston Labor council is made of 160 unions in the greater Boston area and we fight for the rights of all workers and their ability to earn a fair wage for their work.”
Snow said this is not the first time a situation like this has taken place, referencing similar strikes at Harvard in the past.
“Last year dining hall workers at Harvard went on strike,” Snow said. “It’s something that we see kind of happening at different college campuses where dining hall staff you know are being organized within their existing unions or organizing unions.”
Snow added these universities are some of the largest employers in the city and since they do not pay taxes, they should be able to pay their workers a living wage.
“A lot of those workers, they work full-time and when school’s not in session they get their hours cut and at these prestigious institutions of higher education where you know students are actually paying so much money to attend and these schools have the money,” Snow said.
Several Boston residents said it’s important for the students to support the workers in their strife for better living standards.
Abby Grable, 25, of Allston, said she has worked a service job and is excited to know students are working for better conditions for dining hall employees.
“The empathy and activism that the generation is willing to put forth and actually do something about a situation to make it better, I’m happy to hear about that,” Grable said.
Grable said standing for employees who serve students each day will help them fight their cause.
“The more that the millennial generation can sympathize, [and] empathize with those that are currently in the workforce I think that’ll … bridge a lot of gaps between the two generations right now,” Grable said.
PJ Abplanalp, 23, of the North End, said he has definitely been underpaid at his job before and the university should pay the workers more.
“I think that’s pretty noble of them,” Abplanalp said. “They’re looking out for their workers.”
Gail Zacharias, 60, of Allston, said she is glad students are showing support and she supports the cause as well.
“They should pay a living wage to all their workers,” Zacharias said. “They can afford it.”
