Union Steps Up Contract Food Fight

Amid contract negotiations, dozens of New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) cafeteria staffers called on the school district to pay them livable wages so they can keep their own stomachs full as they work to feed students.

More than 60 members of Unite Here Local 217’s hospitality workers union, which represents NHPS food workers, turned out on Monday to the district’s regular Board of Education meeting held at John Martinez School. 

Local 217 Secretary/Treasurer Joshua Stanley testified during the board meeting that contract negotiations for food service employees began in April of this year. The previous four-year contract expired at the end of June.

Stanley — who also led a different group of Local 217 workers, at the Omni Hotel, on a strike earlier this year — said that union members are struggling because their paychecks are covering less and less of their weekly bills, as the cost of living has increased. 

According to the NHPS job postings site, a food services general worker earns a starting wage of $21.52 per hour. The now-expired contract says that other Local 217-represented lead cooks earn between $25.06 and $27.99 an hour.

Local 217 has said that on average, its cafeteria workers make $18,060 per year.

At Monday’s meeting, union members joined each other in chants and most wore matching red Local 217 shirts. In testimony after testimony, those school cafeteria staffers urged the board to include livable wages in their next contract.

Testifiers reminded the board that food service staffers are critical to providing NHPS students with daily meals. 75 percent of those students come from from economically disadvantaged families, Stanley noted, and many rely on having consistent access to meals.

“What message does it send to our children when they see that workers at their schools, who may remind them of their own families, have only become poorer over the past few years?” Stanley asked. ​“What future does this imply for the children of economically disadvantaged families when they see these workers left behind? And what tolerance does it suggest that the schools leadership has growing inequality and rising poverty?”

Watch the full Board of Ed meeting here.

Jasanea Hernandez has been a school district food staffer for the past 20 years. She urged NHPS leaders to prioritize settling their contract fairly because she and her colleagues ​“are not just employees but neighbors, friends, and family.”

A fair contract would support a district-wide message that NHPS values all of the people who serve its children daily and want to make sure they’re respected, she said. 

“We share the same goals to see our children thrive in an environment that fosters growth, learning, and opportunity. However, to achieve that goal we need your support and understanding. The food service workers in New Haven are committed individuals who work tirelessly to ensure that every student has access to healthy and appetizing meals, yet we are facing challenges that can no longer be ignored,” Hernandez said. 

“A fair contract will not only empower us as employees, but it will also send a powerful message to our children about the value of hard work and dedication.”

One staffer, Hailey, said that she’s worked at Ross Woodward School for 14 years, but lately she’s been working a total of three jobs to make ends meet. From Monday to Friday, Hailey said she works from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., all while having Lupus and oftentimes getting swollen legs on the job. 

“I love my job feeding the kids. I know kids need full bellies to be able to focus in school. It makes me happy to do it with pride,” Hailey said. ​“But it’s very very hard. We need that contract please.”

Another staffer, Shelley, has worked for NHPS for the past nine years and is currently at King Robinson School. She said she loves her job because she knows the importance of a full stomach for a student’s ability to learn. She said she isn’t able to provide for her family in the same way, and that she struggles to pay her daughter’s Gateway Community College tuition.

District Spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent Monday evening that the district’s goal is to come out of the negotiation process with a ​“fair” contract.

Several testimonies later, after Board of Education President Yesenia Rivera had issued reminders for the group to remain orderly or else she would end the public comment portion of the meeting, Local 217 members left the John Martinez cafeteria where the board meeting was being held while chanting, ​“You want order, we want to eat!”