Food Service Workers Organize Dining Hall Boycott (workers are requesting a card check agreement)

[Omaha Steve]

http://tsl.pomona.edu/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1118:food-service-workers-organize-dining-hall-boycott&catid=42:pomona&Itemid=88

April 29, 2010

Dining hall workers called for a student boycott of dinner at Frank and Frary dining halls on Wednesday in support of their push for a card check neutrality agreement on unionization.

The boycott was organized by the Workers for Justice (WFJ), a pro-union coalition of workers, and supported by Students in Solidarity with Workers for Justice (SSWFJ), a group of students who support the workers’ cause.

Students and workers picketed outside the entrances of Frank and Frary, chanting “Si, se puede” and other protest chants. Students who attempted to enter the dining halls were encouraged to eat elsewhere, though they were not refused entry.

“The purpose of the boycott was to pressure President Oxtoby to sign the card check neutrality agreement,” said one worker who rallied outside Frary. “We’ve already sent letters. We know what the processes are and we want him to sign the neutrality agreement.”

The conflict stems from a disagreement over unionization processes. The administration supports a vote held by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), while workers are requesting a card check neutrality agreement, which would give workers more say in how the vote is held and limit the administration from discussing unionization in the workplace.

An NLRB-sponsored election is a secret ballot, in that each worker’s vote is anonymous, but the administration would have the right to participate in the discussion process. WFJ claims that an NLRB election would allow the administration to pressure workers to vote against unionization.

FULL story at link.