SOUTH HADLEY — While hundreds of students packed Mount Holyoke College’s Richard Glenn Gettell Amphitheater to celebrate a new year of academic achievement, the college cooks, facility workers and housekeepers clustered around the front gate to a chant of their own.
“No contract, no peace!” “Same fight, same struggle!”
After working since July without a contract, United Auto Workers Local 2322 and Service Employees International Union 32BJ went on strike on Tuesday. They promised to continue to refrain from work until Mount Holyoke College administration agreed to compensate them what they consider a livable wage.
Starting at 5 a.m., staff representing nearly 200 unionized workers held the picket line outside the front gate at 50 College St. in union attire, then came together at 10 a.m. to rally with fellow members.
“Our dining unit would have preferred to be in there making food for these students,” said Bill Sims, the 32BJ field representative for Dining Services and Facilities Management. “Our facilities unit is supposed to be making sure this place is running smoothly here. Our housekeepers want to make sure that everything is good in the dorms. Unfortunately, we have to be out here right now.”
Both unions began bargaining with the college administration in the spring, but bargaining committee members said the negotiations have come to a stalemate. The strike is the last, but effective, resort to break the impasse, they said. During the negotiations for the previous contract, a strike authorization motivated the final agreement.
“We’ve been bargaining since April. The most movement we saw from them this whole time was after we took this most recent strike authorization, but it still wasn’t quite where we wanted to be,” 32BJ bargaining team member and dining worker Richard Sugrue said.
Mount Holyoke spokesperson Christian Feuerstein said the college remains steadfast in efforts to reach an agreement with both unions. In a video of convocation sent to the Gazette, President Danielle R. Holley acknowledged the ongoing negotiations and told the student body that the two sides are close to a deal.
“We deeply value and recognize the contributions of all of our employees,” Feuerstein said in a statement. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith with Local 32BJ and Local UAW 2322 in the hope of reaching a resolution as quickly as possible.”
More work, less wage
Employees are asking the institution for a living wage as defined by MIT Living Wage Calculator for Hampshire County, which begins at $24.59 an hour. According to Sims, at least 40% of the union members who work for Mount Holyoke make less than livable wage for Hampshire County.
“In my district, we have people struggling to pay the rent, and it’s because they don’t get paid enough,” state Rep. Omar Gomez said on Tuesday. “I’m not telling the administration to give them something that they [unionized workers] don’t deserve. They’re working hard. They’re working for the people, and they’re working for the community.”
32BJ SEIU, which represents 170 dining and facilities workers, also seeks access to a legal fund that would represent members on civil cases, including immigration.
Sugrue has worked in the dining facilities for nine years. He said he’s previously received cost of living raises every year during that time, but “the one-two punch” of inflation and the rising health coverage costs eclipse these incremental increases.
He adds that the college’s compensation system creates wage discrepancies between laborers. The college pays positions on a tiered scale, but gives the same percent-based increases for all unionized workers. Under this system, Sugrue continues, the highest paid employees receive the biggest raise, and the lowest paid workers get the lowest raises.
“The differences between the individual tiers have grown to, not to be hyperbolic, but to an alarming extent,” he continued. “I think it’s a harder job for the dishwashers than it was in the residence halls [kitchens]. They work harder, and they’re getting less in comparison, so that’s the big thing that we’re out here fighting for.”
As expenses continue to rise for both college employees and the college itself, facility workers and housekeepers are “asked to do more with less,” grounds guard Wesley Honstetter said. Over the 15 years Honstetter has upkept Mount Holyoke’s property, facility workers not only been delegated more tasks, but maintain more buildings.
Culinary assistant Meggan Hillenbrand said often needs to “wear multiple hats at one time” to keep up with her duties. UWA Union Steward Ronda Saletnik said the college asked housekeepers to shovel snow prior to their regular eight hours cleaning dormitories. This would qualify them as essential workers.
“They don’t see that cost is going up,” Lead Housekeeper Jenny Garcia said. “They don’t care, because they’re making the good money, and we’re not.”
Students join the cause
Dining halls opened on Tuesday without the 100 cooks, culinary assistants and kitchen assistants, leaving only the eight managers and cashiers to cook for thousands of students. Yet, first-year students Katya Dikavistski and Naida Oian Vust said this had not disrupted their campus experience. Instead, they showed up at the strike in solidarity.
“It feels like the right thing to do,” Oian Vust said.
Students on campus had already organized to boycott the dining commons and a campus cookout. They share food among dorm mates, eat at local restaurants and spread the word about ongoing negotiations.
“I think that that’s the biggest thing that makes Mount Holyoke work,” Dikavistski said. “This is the community between the workers and the students.”
Many speakers at the strike evoked Mount Holyoke’s values of equity, inclusion and social justice. Specifically, union members referenced alum Frances Perkins, who instituted a federal living wage as Franklin D Roosevelt’s secretary of labor.
“Our history and the history of Mount Holyoke reflects this commitment to social justice,” said state Sen. Adam Gomez, D-Springfield. “We are proud of trailblazers like Francis Perkins, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor, who championed workers rights and social equity. If she were here today, I believe she’d support efforts to secure a living wage for all of our workers aligning with our core values.
Honstetter said it’s unfortunate that the employees are on strike, but the group has never had a stronger sense of community. Dining workers rarely speak with facility workers, let alone housekeepers. But on Tuesday they gathered in one place with little to do but chat.
“We’re trying to fight for everyone,” Honstetter said. “This is the strongest we’ve ever been and I hope it continues.”