The workers at the Portland Convention Center, members of UNITE HERE Local 9 employed by Aramark as servers, concession stand workers, and kitchen workers, finally won their year-long battle for a new contract in early September.  Portland Jobs with Justice was proud to stand with the workers as they stood up for health care benefits, living wages, and to keep management from taking their gratuities.

Workers built a strong committee and active participation from all parts of the bargaining unit.  The whole union fought for increased wages for the lowest paid kitchen staff, and other key issues were health care and gratuities.  Even though a number of workers were entitled to health care, they had not been getting it.  A delegation presenting petitions from the workers and community early in the contract campaign won coverage for several additional workers.  When the contract was settled, health benefits were expanded and improved.  Under the old contract, management kept 25% of workers’ gratuities.  The workers, for the first time ever, put a cap on the amount of gratuities management could keep, and got transparency about where the gratuity money goes. 

Continue reading Worker Victory at the Portland Convention Center

The past two months have been unprecedented, filled with victories and actions that have proven to be successful in bringing real change to our communities.

The first victory for working class people was the passage of the Student Aid reform.  This bill will take away subsidies given to loan companies and invest them into programs such as the Pell grant and community colleges.  “Students across the country were able to see their amazing direct-action organizing payoff with comprehensive student aid reform becoming the law of the land,” said USSA President Gregory Cendana.  “This is especially critical for working class students and families who have struggled the most in affording their education.”

The second victory was the agreement reached between for the Coalition of Immokalee workers, the Student Farmworker Alliance, and  giant food service provider Aramark.  Marc Rodriguez of the Student Farmworker Alliance said:

Aramark becomes the 8th major food corporation to agree to work with the CIW to improve wages and root out modern-day slavery in its tomato supply chain.

Continue reading Student Labor Week of Action Builds on Successes

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