100 Rally to Support Food Service Workers at UNH

As Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up" blared loudly through the speakers, over 100 Unite Here Local 217 food service, hospitality and cafeteria workers joined by Unite Here Locals 33 and 34, CT CPUSA clubs, and union members from across the state, gathered to support the facilities workers at University of New Haven’s campus.

They picketed the University to demand fair wages and benefits and settle a good contract with the workers who keep UNH functioning day to day.

The target of the demonstration was the private contractor that runs UNH’s food service operations.

“We demand that they pay their workers a living wage, and good benefits" said Isadora Munoz, an organizer for Hotel and Restaurant Workers Local 217, which represents the UNH cafeteria workers.

Soon after, UNH workers took the podium to address the crowd and spoke about the challenges they face on the job, and how the employees in the UNH food service facilities make considerably less than their Local 217 counterparts at other Connecticut universities. Twenty-year employee Carlos Santiago and other facility workers made it clear that “without us, there is no UNH.”

The huge crowd, charged up and ready to march, walked up the stairs onto the university, circling through the campus holding picket signs that said Sodexo at UNH has no contact with Local 217, while the large group chanted “When I say Union, you say Power, Union (POWER!),Union (POWER!)” gathering support from students and faculty as they handed them pamphlets along the way.

The crowd proceeded to stop in front of the university’s campus headquarters where Joshua Stanley, Secretary Treasurer of Unite Here Local 217 grabbed a megaphone and shouted out to the crowd about the importance of union solidarity.

He said that together the union members from across the state can all win good contracts, have their voices heard and demands met by having unity adding that it’s inspiring to see workers come together and fight for their rights.

The action fell on the eve of Rev. Martin Luther King's birthday which gave the crowd even more morale, knowing that King dedicated his life to the fight for racial and economic justice and was a devoted supporter of the labor movement.

The rally was a reminder that we continue his legacy by fighting for equality for all working people.