Aramark workers to hold union election

After months of conflict over union representation for Aramark employees on the Hopkins campus, a solution is in sight.

An election has been scheduled for next Tuesday.  The approximately 150 Aramark workers employed at Hopkins will have the opportunity to either have no union or to vote for UNITE HERE Local 7, the union that has traditionally represented them. The rival union that had been seeking to represent the employees, Workers United, dropped out of the election yesterday morning.

“[Workers United] has been calling me and I’ve been telling them that . . . we really feel UNITE HERE Local 7 is the union for us,” Gladys Burrell said, offering a potential reason that Workers United might have decided not to compete in the election. Burrell is the financial secretary for UNITE HERE and an employee at the Fresh Food Cafe (FFC).

She added that she is feeling “very positive going into the election.”

Both Burrell and Trent Leon-Lierman, an organizer for UNITE HERE, described the election as an important step not just in itself, but towards progress on allowing the workers to negotiate a new contract with Aramark.

A similar election was held for the employees at Morgan State University. Workers United dropped out of that election as well.

No representatives at Workers United could be reached for comment as of press time, but Leon-Lierman also theorized a possible explanation for their decision to drop out.

“I think part of the issue was we have two different styles of organizing,” he said. “[Workers United] come from a union that has lost members to factories overseas, and that has affected their mentality, being nervous that they’re going to lose more.”

He explained that “jobs in food service and hospitality are not going anywhere . . . so the only ceiling on what we can win is how much power we can demonstrate.”

Both he and Burrell spoke of the workers’ goals for after the election. Burrell believed that they would be able to begin negotiations for a new contract almost immediately after elections.

“In the next couple of weeks we’ll be meeting to make proposals [for clauses in the new contract],” she said.

The method of providing workers’ schedules is one of the key issues Burrell and Leon-Lierman hope to address.

“You need to work 30 hours a week to be full-time,” Burrell explained. “So we want some kind of resolution to get people 30 hours.”

Leon-Lierman explained that newer employees have often been kept to part-time schedules, which means they do not receive the same benefits.

That combined with the fact that workers hired after September 2, 1994, have to make significantly larger weekly contributions towards their benefits proves problematic for some workers.

He has suggested a clause that requires the company to take on as many full-time positions as they can.

Workers hired before that day pay only 11 dollars a week towards their benefit package. Those hired after it pay 35 dollars, meaning they pay more but often do not work as many hours.

Both also mentioned the issue of raises. Generally in the past employees have received a raise of around 20 cents every six months.

However, none of the Hopkins employees have received raises since August 1 of 2009, over a year ago.

The election will take place on the terrace level of Wolman. Employees can go vote between one-thirty and five, seven and seven-thirty or eight-thirty to 10.

The times are split up to allow workers with different schedules to go vote whenever they can.

The station will be manned by a representative of the National Labor Relations Board, who will check off workers from a list to keep the voting fair.

A representative from UNITE HERE is allowed to be present to observe, and Aramark can also have one observer present although their representative cannot be a manager.

Burrell and Leon-Lierman both discussed the importance of support from the student body last semester in working towards getting the election scheduled.

They mentioned the Black Student Union (BSU) and Hopkins Democrats in particular, but mentioned that other groups and individuals had offered support as well.

Daniel Hochman, the president of the Hopkins Democrats, explained his organization’s involvement by saying that “as democrats, we believe in workers’ rights.”

He added that “the school is also a player in this, so we were glad to help lend a little voice.”

A representative of the BSU could not be reached as of press time.

Last semester students from both groups, as well as various individuals, attended a forum held by the workers regarding the issue, and many later signed a petition for an election to be held.

“There is no better way to win more than when workers and students unite to make better jobs in Baltimore,” Leon-Lierman said in conclusion.