10 signatures reached
To: PASSHE Chancellor Dan Greenstein and Food Service Contractors in Pennsylvania
Food service workers deserve better! Honor the contracts of our union brothers & sisters!
In these most uncertain times, Food Service Workers at all PASSHE institutions are on the front lines, often marginalized and overlooked. As Essential Workers, we call on Chancellor Greenstein to demand that food service contractors treat workers fairly and commit to honoring dining workers' union contracts!
Why is this important?
We are the hardworking men and women who feed students day-in and day-out at West Chester University. We have a union contract that ensures we are paid fairly, treated with respect and provided with benefits that help us take care of our families. So do our brothers and sisters at 10 other PASSHE universities. Workers at one more, East Stroudsburg University, just won their union and will soon change their lives by negotiating for their union contract.
We can't allow these protections to be threatened by the PA State System of Higher Education's (PASSHE) consolidation of food service operations across the state. In Western PA, one food service contractor will soon feed students at four different universities (Edinboro, IUP, Slippery Rock and Clarion) under one agreement. In Eastern PA, there will be one food service contractor serving six campuses (Bloomsburg, Cheyney, Mansfield, Lock Haven, East Stroudsburg and Kutztown) under one agreement. Food service companies are preparing their bids now. The winning companies will be chosen this fall.
We call on Chancellor Greenstein to demand that the winning companies honor the existing union contract as well as the contracts of our union brothers and sisters across the State System. The winning company should also grant workers at Clarion University and Kutztown University a fair process for joining a union so that they too can negotiate for fair wages, benefits and working conditions.
We are prepared to take action if this arrangement threatens our brothers and sisters’ union contracts, and by extension, our own union contract. We are well aware of how unfairly many nonunion food service workers are treated and how poorly they are compensated. We will do whatever it takes to preserve the fair treatment, pay and respect we have fought for!
