Workers win strong union contract with student support

Food service workers at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., have won a strong first union contract after a hard-fought, year-long struggle against union-busting company AVI Fresh and an unsympathetic, hands-off college administration.

From the initial push for union recognition with UNITE HERE Local 100 to final actions at the end of the school year, the workers and students worked together for justice.

Soon after AVI Fresh took over the food-service contract at SLC, students began coordinating with workers to ensure a just transition. The newly-formed student group, SLC Worker Justice, grew quickly, attracting new students, activists and some faculty members. Students took direction from the workers and acted to hold the company, the administration and the union accountable.

Monica Wise, a leader in SLC Worker Justice, explains, “We made posters, passed out leaflets and helped organize demonstrations, raising awareness among the SLC student body and staff. These efforts ultimately helped to pressure the company to agree to affordable health care and a decent contract and to put an end to worker harassment.”

After the workers and students held multiple demonstrations, delegations, negotiations and workplace actions, AVI agreed to a contract with the workers and UNITE HERE. “We fought hard for a good contract. We got medical insurance, a good raise, and we got everything we wanted,” Martin Valdez, an AVI worker and union shop steward, told Workers World.

“I want to say thank you to the students,” said Valdez, “because they helped and supported us on everything, and the teachers helped too. We were only able to win because we were united.”

The year ended not only with a robust contract, but also a new, strong, organized, activist base of students. New student leaders emerged, and the radical pedagogy taught in the classroom became translated into concrete action.

“I came in without any expectations and didn’t have an activist background, but it was great to have so much student support,” said Wise. “It was great to experience real change. By the end we had so much student support — it progressed really well. This was a gateway to seeing how you can make a difference in your community on a larger scale.”

SLC Worker Justice will continue to fight for justice at Sarah Lawrence and in the New York area in the years to come.

The writer is co-founder and co-chair of SLC Worker Justice and an activist in the Bail Out the People Movement in New York City.