By Glenn Billman, news staff
Twelve students representing Huskies Organizing With Labor (HOWL) sang a parody of “Hey Jude” by the Beatles Monday afternoon in Curry Student Center to advocate for dining hall workers. The three verses of “Hey Aoun” urged President Joseph E. Aoun to guarantee a living wage for campus workers.
“Hey, Aoun, you’re a millionaire / Dining workers deserve better / Than $20,000 per year / We have the funds to pay them better,” the students sang.
The students began their singing tour in Ell Hall. As they walked to the first floor of Curry, they sang the reprise, “nah nah, hey, Aoun.” Some nearby students clapped, danced, cheered, took photos and videos or sang along, while others ignored the spectacle and continued eating or working.
The demonstrators passed out flyers and performed the song three times: Twice on the first floor and once in the food court. From start to finish, the protest lasted less than 10 minutes. HOWL members repeated their performance at 11:30 am Wednesday in Curry and the Snell Quad.
HOWL member Rebeca Muñoz said HOWL used estimates from UNITE HERE! Local 26, the union Northeastern food service workers belong to, that dining workers earn approximately $20,500 a year. Muñoz said salaries also depend on the worker and change frequently, and that the average wage of $14.40 per hour is insignificant if a worker’s hours are cut.
The News was unable to independently verify this information. A university spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
First-year School of Law student and HOWL member Keally Cieslik said the goal of the unconventional demonstrations was to appeal to a broader group of students than a typical protest might.
“We want students to see that the HOWL coalition is a powerful, diverse, energetic coalition of students and community members who care about the dignity and well-being of dining service workers,” Cieslik said. “And that this is a coalition they can be a part of and is welcoming to everyone.”
Sophomore bioengineering major Nancy Lieberman, who was in Curry tabling for a Delta Zeta event when Monday’s demonstration began, said that while other types of student protests could be seen as annoying, HOWL’s song was a good way to express their grievances.
“It’s not something I would have expected a lot of students to be really passionate about, but I think they have a good point,” Lieberman said. “What stood out to me was their attitude on it, like they had a very positive attitude. They weren’t yelling at anyone, they weren’t being rude or mean to get their point across. It was very friendly and harmless, but meaningful at the same time.”
HOWL member Michelle Mouw, a freshman business administration major, accompanied the singers on guitar. She said she thought the demonstration went well, and she was proud of the energy HOWL created.
“Being a first-year student at Northeastern, we go to the dining halls every single day, and we really see firsthand how important dining workers are to our experience here at the university,” Mouw said. “That’s another reason of many why I’m here.”
Cieslik said she believes the university knows workers’ wages are an important topic, and she hopes that as HOWL continues to draw attention to the matter, the administration will come to see raising dining service employees wages as a moral issue.
“I’m interested in labor and employment law and in workers rights, and I can’t go to school every day preparing to become an advocate for workers rights at an institution that is actively oppressing an entire community of really hard working people,” Cieslik said. “That’s just a dissonance I can’t accept.”
