Campus Dining Workers At NSU, VSU Calling To Unionize

NJG Newswire
NORFOLK

Workers at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Norfolk State University and Virginia State University are seeking to join over 1,500 of campus dining workers in at least six universities across Virginia who have recently organized their union. Workers on both campuses are calling for a fair process to unionize. The workers are employees of Thompson Hospitality, a subcontracted campus food service provider.

Thomas Hospitality‘s workforce at these locations is majority Black. It has contracts on campuses throughout the Eastern US, including more than a dozen HBCUs.

Dining workers across Virginia have already unionized with UNITE HERE, beginning with workers at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2022. Since then, workers at the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Longwood University, Old Dominion University, and the University of Mary Washington have organized to join UNITE HERE.

“Workers at Norfolk State and Virginia State are calling for a fair and neutral process to decide on unionization,” said Marlene Patrick Cooper, President of UNITE HERE Local 23. “This as an opportunity for them to make positive change for themselves, and to join with workers at higher education institutions across the state, where other Local 23 members fought for and won their union. Our members in Virginia have already negotiated and won contractual gains for higher wages, affordable quality health insurance, and a pension plan that they can retire on with dignity.”

UNITE HERE is a labor union that represents 300,000 working people across Canada and the United States. Members work in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries.

According to the union, its membership is predominantly women and people of color.