In true Employee Free Choice Act style, Pomona College dining hall workers have been pressuring both the college administration and their “middle-man” Sodexo overseers for the ability to unionize via a card-check system. The unionization struggle has been heating up over the past few weeks, with a relatively well-publicized rally held yesterday at 2:30 pm outside Bridges Auditorium. Port Side copy editor Nick Rowe ‘13 and I walked across Sixth Street to witness the rally firsthand. We noticed about three other Claremont McKenna students in attendance — so for the rest of you, we hope this video serves as your vicarious rally experience:
The Port Side will cover the unionization struggle in more analytical depth in our next issue, which we will distribute shortly after spring break. Until then, here are some photos taken at yesterday’s rally:
- Father Guillen, a local minister, is the first to speak at the rally.
- A food service worker discusses her displeasure with the current state of management at Pomona College’s dining halls.
- The ralliers, mostly students, march from Bridges Auditorium to the Smith Campus Center.
- A group of chefs stand in solidarity with their dining hall coworkers.
- The ralliers join hands and chant, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” in unison.
For more information, see the activists’ website.
Correction: Person labeled as Anthony Chavez in video is actually Father Guillen, a local minister. Chavez spoke later.
There are a couple glaring inaccuracies here.
First, the person you labeled as “Anthony Chavez” is actually Father Guillen, a local minister. Anthony Chavez spoke later, and is about 40 years younger.
Second, the chefs are not “in solidarity” with co-workers, they are among the food service workers demanding a fair process. Chefs are just one of several types of food service employees, including servers, dishwashers, and card-swipers, 90% of whom have signed the petition to President Oxtoby. Chefs are not a distinct category.
Unrelated- to describe Cesar Chavez as “infamous” is just silly; he’s got a state holiday in his honor and he’s a hero and icon for labor organizers and union members internationally. We don’t get school and work off for “Ronald Reagan Day.”
Anthony Chavez correction appended. Thanks.
http://www.pitzer.edu/participant_online/pdf/2000_summer.pdf
Interesting read on pg2 if you haven’t seen this.