By Kristen McCarthy, News Correspondent
Northeastern’s dining hall workers will hold a Speak Out session tonight to raise awareness of their plan to form a union and advocate for fair treatment. Last Wednesday, workers and supporting students marched to deliver a petition to university administrators outlining their plan to unionize.
Renata Nyul, director of marketing and communications for Northeastern, released a statement Wednesday encouraging respect and dignity towards the workers.
“We expect all of our vendors to uphold [Northeastern’s core value of respect and dignity] with their employees,” she said in an email to The News. “We respect the right of Chartwells and its employees to engage in constructive dialogue regarding unionization, and we expect the two parties to resolve this matter independently.”
News of the mistreatment and plans for the workers to unionize, spurring the formation of a new student group called Huskies Organizing With Labor (HOWL), initially made up of students who joined the workers their original rally and march. The group’s mission is to advocate for the workers’ rights, bringing together other student organizations to form a coalition. Twenty different student groups, sororities and fraternities have joined the coalition, pledging their support for the workers.
Angela Bello, a Chartwells employee who works at Stetson East, said she was hopeful that the student support would help the workers’ cause.
“I’m so proud. I’m very, very proud and so happy and very thankful. I want to give a kiss and hug to everyone, because they’re smart, and they have courage,” she said. “We need the students. I don’t think we can fight without them.”
Alyssa Introcaso, a senior criminal justice major, said she agreed that the student body and the university as a whole needed to fight for the workers.
“I think it’s absurd, they work a lot of hours and they do a lot for us and I think they deserve to be treated better, with better wages and better time,” Introcaso said.
She said she believed workers could negotiate a balanced relationship with the management.
“I think we should stick to them, if we come to some sort of agreement,” Introcaso said. “They’ve been with us for awhile and I think it would be nice to be loyal to them.”
The Speak Out session is scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. in 10 Behrakis. The workers will then gather at the Marino Center on April 12 for an election day, where they will vote for or against the union. If a majority vote in favor, the dining hall workers will officially become a part of the local 26 union, the Boston branch of Unite Here, a union that represents service workers.
Workers hope to form a union to help them reach what they say are their goals of better treatment, higher wages and increased job security.
Angela Bello, a four-year employee at Stetson East and a leader of the movement to unionize, said she hadn’t heard a response from Chartwells.
“They didn’t contact us, not me personally or as far as I know any of my coworkers. Nothing. Silence. I was hoping they would do something, but they’re not doing anything,” Bello said. “Personally I feel like what we did went in one ear and out the other. Maybe I’m too early, but I don’t know.”
A news correspondent made no effort to contact Chartwells for this story.
