Courtesy of Henry Shmitt
The rally outside Fanning Hall on Friday, April 11 signified a new push in the Connecticut College dining workers’ sick pay fight. Dining workers, who are unionized with Unite Here Local 217, are asking the College to pay out the accumulated sick time the staff lost during the outsourcing transition to Chartwells Higher Ed.
Prior to the outsourcing, dining workers, like all other Conn staff, could build up paid sick leave over time, and many workers had accumulated weeks of paid sick leave, the limit of which is much higher at Conn than the average in higher education (according to several inside sources).
A petition started by Local 217 to urge the College to pay for that sick time gathered over 800 signatures from students, faculty, and staff. Friday afternoon’s rally brought in dozens of students, faculty, and staff to support the petition as it was delivered to President Andrea Chapdelaine.
One dining worker, who has worked at the College for almost two decades and built up several hundred hours— nearly $20,000— in sick leave says that this potential change would benefit many of the workers who currently struggle to pay bills, loans, or rent. They pointed out how many dining workers “work so hard” and “go beyond to take care of the students,” and wished that the College would “stop acting like they don’t know what’s going on: so many people have left over the years without being paid out.”
Another dining worker, who has worked at the College for around a decade and accumulated around $4,000 of sick leave, again urged the College to “fulfill their obligation, and pay us all out.” They alleged that the refusal towards the sick pay petition was part of a longer history of unfair treatment— “everything’s been out in the open about how they’ve been treating our workers, custodial and grounds too.” In regards to delivering the sick pay petition, they said: “Our voices are going to be heard no matter what, but the ball is in the College’s court.”
When asked for comment, the Conn Office of Communications responded:
“Connecticut College is aware of the recent rally organized by representatives of Unite Here Local 217 related to employment matters involving dining services staff. While the College does not comment on individual personnel issues, our employee handbook (page 30) clearly states that unused sick time is not compensated upon termination of employment. This policy was communicated in writing to the union representative.
Dining services staff are employed by Chartwells, a third-party dining vendor, and we continue to work closely with Chartwells’ leadership to ensure that practices remain aligned with College values and our expectations.
As an institution, we support free expression and the right to peaceful assembly, provided all campus policies are followed. We remain in dialogue with students and our partners to ensure open communication and continued review of concerns.”
As of right now, the future of negotiations surrounding the sick pay policy and next steps from both Local 217 and the College remain unclear.
