Photos Courtesy of Fritz Baldauf and Kevin Lieue
On the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, Connecticut College students, staff and faculty gathered on campus to rally in support of the Dining Staff’s demand for a union. The rally was organized with the help of UNITE HERE Local 217, which is an organization that helps hospitality workers win unionization efforts at hotels, restaurants, college campuses, and more.
According to a press release from Local 217, the Dining Staff cited “low pay, overwork, and a lack of job stability” as the key reasons for their demand for a union. The rally was planned following a walkout and protest held by the Dining Staff at Harris at noon on Monday, Dec. 11. The rally was advertised around campus and on social media, calling for anyone in support to join them.
As the advertised 3:30 p.m. start time rolled around, hundreds of Connecticut College students and several faculty members made their way to the lawn in front of Harris Refectory in support of the staff. Flyers spelling out the planned chants were distributed as people arrived as well as large circular signs reading “UNITE HERE!”
A few minutes after 3:30 p.m., Hannah Schmitt, an Organizer for the Connecticut chapter of Local 217 spoke into the microphone. Schmitt got the crowd of hundreds engaged, chanting “What do we want? Union! When do we want it? Now!” After the initial chants died down, Schmitt handed over the microphone to Josh Bliven, a member of the College’s Dining Staff. Bliven detailed how he has worked on the Dining Staff at Conn for 17 years, starting when he was 15-years-old. He described the Dining Staff at the College as a “meaningful” community, a “family.” He noted that most Dining Staff members at Conn have been working at the College anywhere from 10 to 30 years.
Bliven continued, stating that “we show up during blizzards, hurricanes, and COVID…we are unnoticed and underappreciated. We are understaffed and not fairly compensated. Everything is made from scratch, in house. We help students throughout college and celebrate them along the way, with events like Harvest Fest, Fall Ball, Floralia, and more… We want higher pay for the heavy workload that we do. We hope the college voluntarily accepts our union and appreciates its employees.”
These statements were met with loud, resounding cheers from the hundreds of students in attendance. Schmitt returned to the mic to introduce another chant, which was quickly taken up by the crowd: “We raise our kids, work all night! Side by side, we’re ready to fight!” Schmitt addressed the crowd again, emphasizing that it is time for the College to accept the unionization of its Dining Staff. She stated that “when over 70% of workers sign union cards, the union should be recognized now…Earlier this year Wesleyan and Central Connecticut State University voluntarily recognized unions for their Dining Staff workers.”
Schmitt also referenced the email which Interim President Leslie Wong sent out to the College community earlier that morning. The email from President Wong stated “I am writing today to let you know that the College has received a request from a labor organization, UNITE HERE Local 217, to represent our Dining Services. Be assured that the College will work in good faith with UNITE HERE and the National Labor Relations Board to ensure our Dining Services employees can freely discuss this issue and participate in a fair election to decide whether they will be represented by the union.”
Schmitt expressed that this email was a positive sign, but that there is still work to be done and reiterated that the hope is for the college to voluntarily recognize the Dining Staff’s union.
Then, Schmitt announced that it was time to march across campus to Fanning Hall, and continue the rally in front of Interim President Wong’s office. As hundreds of students, staff, and faculty marched, the chants from the beginning of the rally continued in a loud, passionate manner led by Schmitt over a loudspeaker. Once at Fanning, Schmitt walked to the top of the stairs by the main entrance, and the crowd gathered in a large semicircle.
Schmitt then passed the megaphone over to Jahmarrah Jordan, a Dining Staff cook. Jordan shared her experience as a Dining Staff worker, focusing on her struggles to get by on the low wages. Jordan explained that she can barely afford an apartment and can’t afford a car to get to work. She hopes for a union since it would give Dining Staff a platform and a means to advocate for themselves.
Schmitt returned again to the megaphone to lead a chant of “The people, united, will never be divided” in both English and Spanish.
To wrap up the protest, Ken Blair, a veteran of the Marines and President of the Local 217 chapter spoke into the megaphone. He explained Local 217’s goals for Conn’s Dining Staff and the successes the group has had on other campuses throughout the state. Blair said that at other institutions they have been successful in bargaining for better wages, increasing job security, and anything they felt needs addressing. He added that “We have fought for and won 100% employer insurance for workers and their whole family at [other institutions],” and their goal now is to make that a reality here at Conn as well. He emphasized the fact that most workers at Conn make between $16 and $20 per hour, which means that many workers have to work one or two other jobs on top of working at the dining hall just to scrape by.
Of this fact, Blair said to the crowd “The time to fix this is now!… Connecticut College needs to step up to the plate and catch up with the rest of the state!” This is in reference to institutions like the University of Hartford and Trinity where dining staff earn $23.45 to $28.67.
As the protest ended, chants from the students, staff, faculty, and Local 217 organizers promised that “we will be back!”
Following the rally, The College Voice had the opportunity to speak with two members of the Dining Staff. Miozoti “Mio” Caraballo, a member of the Dining Staff, was carrying a large sign during the protest which read “I got 99 problems and LITERALLY every single one of them can be SOLVED by a RAISE!!” When asked why Caraballo and other workers were rallying, Caraballo stated that he wants workers “to get more respect and more money.”
“I’m tired, overworked, and need a better living, they [the administration] don’t listen to us,” said Caraballo. Caraballo’s struggles aren’t unique to himself as he stated that collectively, “we are all broken.” When asked whether Dining Services had received any communication from the administration, Caraballo said they haven’t heard anything yet. “We’ve heard nothing from them, the email is all we’ve gotten.”
However, Caraballo is optimistic and added that Dining Staff “feels good [and] is thankful for all the support from everyone today.”
Sheryl Allen-Varcienna, a member of Dining Staff, brought up an example of a coworker to illustrate the struggles the staff have been through. “Dawn, for example, has been working with no personal time, no sick time, on call, 34 hours a week, everyday during the week.”
Despite being on the regular schedule, on-call workers aren’t required to receive the benefits paid that regular schedule workers do. As a result, workers like Dawn are unpaid during their time off and sick time.
Allen-Varcienna shared that due to stress-induced chronic headaches they “had brain surgery because of all the stress of being overworked for all these years.” Allen-Varcienna also brought up that “equipment is always broken… the dishwasher is always broken and we’ve had to wash all pots and pans with our hands.”
As of now, Dining staff members have announced that over 70% have signed union cards. This means that a significant majority of Dining Staff have authorized the union to represent them and their employment interests. Now, with this rally, they are asking the College to formally announce voluntary recognition of the union, which would quicken the process of starting negotiations with the union. The College may choose to voluntarily recognize the union or it may choose to go through a National Labor Relations Board election, which would take longer, but both routes would likely still result in successful unionization of Dining Services at Conn assuming that the same or similar proportions of staff maintain their pro-union stance.
After the rally today, The College Voice reached out to the College via Vice President of Marketing and Communications John Cramer for comment and was told “The College doesn’t have any comment beyond Interim President Wong’s campus message.”
The full contents of the email from Interim President Wong can be found below:
“Dear members of the Connecticut College community,
I am writing today to let you know that the College has received a request from a labor organization, UNITE HERE Local 217, to represent our Dining Services staff.
Be assured that the College will work in good faith with UNITE HERE and the National Labor Relations Board to ensure that our Dining Services employees can freely discuss this issue and participate in a fair election to decide whether they will be represented by the union.
We will keep you informed of developments as they occur. Please know that Conn values all of our employees and that we will listen, collaborate and, if our Dining Services staff decide on union representation, do our part to make collective bargaining a mutually beneficial process for employees and management.
We look forward to a process and a solution that sustains the respect we have for our employees and each other.
Sincerely,
Les Wong, Ph.D.
Interim President
Reginald White
Vice President of Human Resources/Interim Vice President for Dining Services”
Solidarity and support from this alum! I hope the administration will voluntarily recognize the union. I so appreciate every single staff member, and I know I learned a lot about healthy eating from my time at Conn.
As an alum, I support the dining hall staff of Conn. I believe unionization is sometimes the answer, but not always. I believe in fair elections. I’d like to hear your paper interview someone from the 30% (if they are comfortable speaking up) as to why they didn’t sign cards. If the union is voted in, what would the annual dues be? What is quorum for voting purposes? Will there be an opt-out option from paying annual union dues? Who would become the union rep, and what of their colleagues’ personal information would they have access? I value the dining hall employees and believe their concerns are valid. I’m curious to hear more sides on this.
I think the college must come to accept that even a pay raise to 23.45 to 28.67 dollars is not nearly enough. Who do you think has a harder day, President Wang or a single mother working in the dinning hall?
Until campus staff are paid as much as college administrators, there is still work to be done!
As an alum of Conncoll, my full support is behind the union and I hope the dining workers can finally get the pay and benefits they deserve.