More Than 1,000 Students Sign Petition Backing Dining Hall Workers Amid Contract Negotiations

More than 1,000 undergraduates have signed a petition demanding the University reach a fair contract with its dining hall workers as contract negotiations drag on and the possibility of a strike looms, according to Helen H. Mancini ’29, the director of the Student Labor Action Movement.

SLAM, a student group affiliated with the Philips Brooks House Association that organizes with Harvard’s workers and its unions to advocate for labor justice, circulated the petition.

The petition comes as dining workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 26, negotiate a new contract with the University. Workers have been without a contract since June 19, and negotiations have been taking place since March.

SLAM launched the petition after hosting a teach-in in early September where students heard from union members about negotiations and the importance of student support.

Leaders for SLAM wrote in a statement that HUDS workers are seeking fair wages, health insurance, and job sustainability. The group argued that members who have attended bargaining sessions between Harvard and Local 26 have seen “Harvard’s refusal to budge on these core issues.”

“We are delivering this petition to Harvard to demonstrate the broad student support for HUDS workers and send the message that we will take care of those who take care of us,” they wrote.

“There is no reason that dining workers at the richest University in the world have wages and benefits that are worse than other Boston area Universities,” the petition reads.

Students who signed the petition pointed to the gap between what dining workers earn at Harvard, and what dining workers make at nearby institutions.

“It was just crazy how low it is for Harvard in comparison,” said Melanie Garcia ’27, a SLAM member who signed the petition.

At a rally in May, Carlos R. Aramayo, the president of Local 26, said a cook at Harvard makes “about $31 and change” an hour, while a cook at MIT makes between $35 and almost $37, depending on the dining hall. MIT’s dining workers recently secured a $6-per-hour raise over three years.

The previous contract, which was ratified overwhelmingly in 2021, raised wages by 2.75 to 3.25 percent a year, about 15 percent, over the life of the deal. It also preserved the health care plan the union won in their 22-day strike in 2016, raised the summer stipend for workers laid off during summer break from $3,000 to $3,800, and protected the scheduled hours of current employees.

A Harvard spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Garcia said workers described struggling to afford health insurance and housing near campus, with some having to commute for hours. She recalled one Harvard University Dining Services worker sharing at a September rally, in Spanish, that because of his working conditions, he could not afford time off to be with his aging parents or his children as they grew up.

“It’s just really heartbreaking to hear about his story, and learn how his family is being impacted by the unfair wages,” Garcia said.

Adrianna L. Reams ’30, also a SLAM member who signed the petition, said some workers who face serious medical conditions like cancer have gone without healthcare to afford other necessities.

“These are real people. They are not any different from Harvard students,” she said. “They deserve all the same things that Harvard students deserve and get.”

“I think the University is just cheap and selfish,” Reams said. “I think it’s just a choice, because they’re selfish and anti-labor.”

Both Garcia and Reams were unsure the petition alone would move the University.

“I don’t know if this will move them to negotiate, but it will let them know that students are behind HUDS workers,” Garcia said.

Reams said she hoped Harvard would follow its students’ lead but did not expect it to meet workers’ demands “until they’re forced to with no other options.”

“It’s our responsibility to take care of them. We’re a community, and communities have to hold each other up and hold each other accountable,” Reams said.

—Staff writer José Luis Ortega Castro can be reached at [email protected].