As classes at Northwestern University resume after spring break this week, striking dining hall workers are back on the job — even though their union, Unite Here Local 1, says it has not yet settled a contract with their employer, the British food service giant Compass Group.
Dining hall workers first walked out on strike March 10. A collective bargaining agreement for the approximately 500 campus cooks, cashiers, baristas, dishwashers and catering workers expired in the summer, and Unite Here said it had reached an impasse on a new agreement after months of bargaining with Compass. Workers were striking for “family-sustaining wages and increased pension contributions,” the union said at the time.
Because no agreement has been reached, dining staff could walk out on strike again at any time, said Unite Here Local 1 spokesperson Sarah Lyons. Workers would not need to take another strike authorization vote to walk out again, she said.
The strike initially shut down some campus dining halls, though others remained open. All dining halls were open Tuesday, the first day of spring semester classes at Northwestern, according to the university’s website.
Lyons said the union and Compass had met for bargaining last week but had not reached an agreement.
Neither Compass nor Northwestern responded to requests for comment.
When the strike began, Compass said it was “disappointed” in the decision to strike, saying the union had not allowed workers to vote on its latest offer, which it said had included immediate raises of $3 per hour for all dining workers, additional raises over the course of the contract and an 80% increase in pension contributions.
