SOUTH HADLEY – Dining hall and facilities workers at Mount Holyoke College have voted in favor of a strike authorization for their union in an attempt to put more pressure on the college amid languishing contract negotiations.
Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, joined by several other local unions in solidarity, gathered outside the entrance gates of the college on Thursday afternoon to emphasize the union’s demand for higher wages and for the college to establish a legal defense fund for employees. The union represents 170 employees at the college, including custodians, tradespeople, groundskeepers and dining services workers.
“We had all hoped it wouldn’t come to this,” said Rich Sugrue, a cook at Mount Holyoke, holding his 4-year-old daughter Ada as he spoke to the crowd of more than 50 union members and representatives gathered for the rally. “I’m tired of being disregarded and ignored. I want to be taken seriously.”
It was the latest rally held by the union during its bargaining process with the college, with a previous rally held in May closer to when negotiations started. In an interview with the Gazette, Sugrue said the mood had changed since their first rally.
“For the first one, what brought me out was more of a feeling of solidarity and optimism,” he said. “For this one, it’s a lot of frustration, because we’ve been trying to negotiate with the college for about six months now, and there just hasn’t been any movement on their part.”
Tony Weidman, a locksmith at the college and a member of the union’s bargaining committee, described the negotiations with the college as being at a “standstill.” He said one of the main issues was higher wages for beginning employees or those with lower-level jobs, which he said hadn’t kept up with the cost of living.
“Some of them have to work two jobs,” Weidman said. “We were hoping to get this done before college got crazy busy, but that hasn’t happened.”
The authorization gives the worker’s approval for the union to declare a strike if it chooses, although it has yet to do so.
In a statement provided to the Gazette, college officials said they would continue to seek a contract agreement with the union.
“Mount Holyoke College values and recognizes the contributions of all its employees and has been an active participant in the ongoing contract discussions with SEIU 32BJ,” the statement said. “Meetings have been held regularly since April and the college remains committed to reaching a successful conclusion while continuing to provide an exceptional student experience.”
Representatives from other unions also spoke at Thursday’s rally, such as Mitch Daniels of SEIU Local 211, which represents dining and housekeeping workers at Smith College.
“Your fight here today, it feels a whole like ours, because your union and ours, your struggle and ours, your workers and ours, they’re not just similar, they’re connected,” Daniels said. “You don’t just keep this place clean and fed, you keep it alive, and that work deserves more than just gratitude.”
LeeAnne Lemaire, an organizer with SEIU 509 that represents mental health clinicians, social workers and early childhood educators across Massachusetts, evoked the memory of Frances Perkins, a Mount Holyoke graduate who served as secretary of labor during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“This is the woman who is responsible for the fact that our children no longer have to labor, that we don’t work in sweatshops today, who is responsible for making sure our elders don’t die in poverty,” Lemaire said. “This institution makes a big deal of her. They have a scholarship that is in her name. And I just think that if they truly wanted to live up to her legacy, settling this contract and meeting your demands at the bargaining table would be a no-brainer for them.”
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
