We won! Tufts dining workers have reached a tentative agreement for their first union contract! Strike averted.
Tufts Dining Hall Workers Win First Union Contract!
BREAKING: We won! Tufts dining workers have reached a tentative agreement for their first union contract! Strike averted
Posted by UNITE HERE Local 26 on Friday, 29 March 2019
For Immediate Release: March 14, 2018
Contact: Nicki Morris, 857-498-2495, nmorris@local26.org
Tufts University Dining Hall Workers Vote to Strike
137 to 17, dining workers vote overwhelmingly to authorize strike
BOSTON, MA—After casting votes late into Thursday evening, UNITE HERE Local 26 Tufts University dining hall workers have overwhelmingly voted to authorized a strike. Now, a strike can be called by the Tufts bargaining committee at any time. After eight months of negotiations for their first union contract, Tufts University administrators potentially face the first strike at a Boston-area university since the 2016 Harvard Dining Hall Workers Strike.
“This is exactly the energy we need to win,” said Trish O’Brien, Tufts Dining worker for thirty years. “I saw my daughter go on strike at Harvard University and it made all the difference. We want everyone treated fairly and we want the same respect as other dining hall workers throughout Boston. We shouldn’t have to strike to win that, but we are prepared for anything.”
Tufts workers are also encouraged by the successful Marriott Strike of 2018, where workers at seven Marriott-operated hotels in Boston went on strike for 46 days winning landmark gains.
“I’m so proud to support the workers. We will back them through the strike, no matter how long it takes until they get a fair contract,” said Yashi Thakurani, Tufts University first-year student.
UNITE HERE Local 26 President Brian Lang said, “These are modest demands. We will see if Tufts has the moral integrity to rise to the occasion.”
For Immediate Release: March 5, 2018
Tufts Dining Hall Workers Announce Strike Authorization Vote
Overwhelming majority of workers pledge to VOTE YES to strike
MEDFORD, MA – Surrounded by hundreds of UNITE HERE Local 26 dining hall workers, hotel workers, and Tufts students, Tufts University dining hall workers announced they will be holding a strike vote on March 14. After eight months of negotiations, an overwhelming majority of dining hall workers have pledged to VOTE YES to strike, taking the next step to win their first union contract.
In April 2018, Tufts University dining hall workers formed their union and joined UNITE HERE Local 26 with an overwhelming majority voting in favor in their National Labor Relations Board election. Workers are demanding equal treatment of all Tufts dining hall workers and equal terms with dining hall contracts throughout Boston. Tufts University has historically used a “temporary” worker classification that prevents nearly a third of dining hall workers from qualifying for the same wages and benefits as “full-time” classified workers, despite working full-time schedules and with comparable job duties. Many have remained in this “temp” position for years on end.
Last Thursday, Somerville City Council voted unanimously in support of a resolution backing Tufts dining hall workers and their demands to be treated equally with other Boston university food service workers. Over the past ten years, UNITE HERE Local 26 dining hall workers in Boston have transformed the industry from part-time, poverty jobs into sustainable careers that support families and communities. Since 2011, food service workers at schools like Northeastern University, Simmons College, and Lesley University, have joined Local 26 and won affordable healthcare, meaningful wage increases and scheduling protections.
“I currently pay over $800 a month for family healthcare. I take care of my 2-year-old son, my partner and myself,” said Lucson Aime, a cook at Tufts University for over seven years. “We can no longer afford daycare because after paying our healthcare costs, there is nothing to cover childcare. My coworkers and I should not be forced to choose between healthcare and daycare for our kids. We should be able to pay for both, and more, while working for one of the richest universities in Massachusetts.”
Tufts workers are encouraged by the successful Marriott Strike of 2018, where workers at seven Marriott-operated hotels in Boston went on strike for 46 days winning landmark gains.
In October 2016, Local 26 Harvard dining services workers went on strike for 22 days, the first strike on Harvard’s campus in over 30 years. The following year, Northeastern University dining hall workers won their contract after a strike was averted.
UNITE HERE Local 26 President Brian Lang said, “We call on Tufts Administration to recognize the urgency of this moment. We will not back down from the life-changing contract we seek at Tufts University.”
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UNITE HERE Local 26 is the hospitality workers’ union and represents over 10,000 members working in the hotel, food service, and airport industries in Boston and Rhode Island. Learn more at www.local26.org
UNITE HERE represents over 270,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, and airport industries across the US and Canada. Learn more at www.unitehere.org.
UNITE HERE Local 26 hotel workers ratify historic agreement with Marriott and will return to work
Boston, MA—The all-seasons strike of Boston hotel workers is over after strikers overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new contract with Marriott on Saturday. The 46-day strike, which was the longest and largest hotel worker strike in Boston’s history, led to the richest and most economically progressive contract in Local 26 history.
Hotel workers rallied around the slogan “One Job Should Be Enough” and called on Marriott, the wealthiest and largest hotel corporation in the world, to show leadership in providing more stable and secure jobs for hotel workers. Today’s agreement provides historic job security protections along with a wage and benefits package that significantly raises the standard for hotel workers struggling to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.
UNITE HERE Local 26 President Brian Lang said:
“This victory is a testament to our members’ strength and tenacity. Hotel workers stood strong for more than six weeks in the wind, the rain, and the snow, up against the largest hotel company in the world. It was a hard fought victory, but in the end Marriott showed leadership and listened to our members’ concerns. From Day 1, we’ve encouraged Marriott to use their leadership in the hotel industry to make jobs in their hotels enough to live on, and today’s settlement goes a long way for Boston workers. Now we expect the rest of the hotel industry to follow that leadership and settle new agreements for the thousands of hotel workers with expired contracts across Boston and Cambridge.”
Hotel workers gained the support of Bostonians whose donations allowed strikers to run a strike assistance program to feed and support the most vulnerable strikers as rent and utilities became due. Strikers were also buoyed by customers and influencers who refused to cross picket lines—including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. Boston City Council passed a resolution calling all city employees to not patronize hotels while workers were on strike.
Further details of the contract will be shared after the more than 5,000 Marriott workers still on strike in San Francisco and Hawaii reach agreements and end their strikes. Strikes at Marriott hotels ended with ratifications previously in San Diego, San Jose, Oakland, and Detroit.
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UNITE HERE Local 26 is the hospitality workers’ union and represents more than 10,000 members working in the hotel, food service, and airport industries in Boston and Rhode Island. Learn more at www.local26.org
UNITE HERE represents over 270,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, and airport industries across the US and Canada. Learn more at www.unitehere.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 29, 2018
Massachusetts Political Leaders Delegate Marriott Management, Call for Meaningful Negotiations to End Strike
Local politicians show strong support of striking Marriott hotel workers, out fighting for one job that’s enough to live on for almost a full month
Governor Baker Moves Event: In addition to today’s delegation of state and local politicians, last week Governor Charlie Baker said he would no longer hold his election night events at the Sheraton Boston. “We have been given word that Governor Charlie Baker has moved his election night operation out of the Sheraton Boston, one of the 7 Marriott-operated hotels where workers are on strike,” said UNITE HERE Local 26 President Brian Lang. “On behalf of Boston’s striking Marriott workers, I would like to thank our good friend Governor Baker for his leadership and act of solidarity with the striking workers.”
BOSTON, MA—Led by Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley, and City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michelle Wu, local politicians gave Marriott management a letter urging meaningful movement at the negotiating table. Striking Marriott hotel workers have been out since October 3, sacrificing to win a new contract from the biggest and richest hotel company in the world.
Massachusetts and Boston politicians see striking Marriott hotel workers as “ambassadors for the Greater Boston area.” Their letter to President and CEO of Marriott, Arne Sorenson, states “Like all workers, they deserve to be paid a living wage and enjoy basic protections from unfair scheduling practices, sexual harassment, and other workplace abuses.” The letter continues, “We urge you to negotiate in good faith with the representing union, UNITE HERE Local 26, to reach a fair compromise that will end the strike and allow both parties to move forward amicably as soon as possible.”
Marriott is the largest and most profitable hotel chain in the world, but Boston’s Local 26 workers have been in contract negotiations since March as they fight to win basic job security, safer working conditions, and jobs that are enough to support their families.
On October 3, workers walked out at seven Marriott-operated hotels, including the Aloft Boston Seaport District, the Element Boston Seaport District, the Ritz-Carlton Boston, the Sheraton Boston, the W Hotel Boston, the Westin Boston Waterfront, and the Westin Copley Place. This is the first hotel strike in Boston’s history. The last time Local 26 workers went on strike was at Harvard in October 2016, when dining hall workers struck for 22 days and successfully settled a contract with the world’s richest university.
Marriott workers are also on strike in San Francisco, Detroit, San Jose, San Diego, Oakland, and Hawaii, totaling nearly 8,000 workers demanding that One Job Should Be Enough.
UNITE HERE Local 26 is the hospitality workers’ union and represents more than 10,000 members working in the hotel, food service, and airport industries in Boston and Rhode Island. Learn more at www.local26.org
UNITE HERE represents over 270,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, and airport industries across the US and Canada. Learn more at www.unitehere.org