The Dining Workers and Housekeepers Union held a rally on Friday, Oct. 17, to protest unfair wages and treatment by the college. The protest coincided with the opening of Kathleen McCartney Hall, which the Board of Trustees attended. About 200 workers, students and local residents marched from the new building to Alumnae House.
Protestors marching from Kathleen McCartney Hall to the Alumnae House (Photo by Jeromie Whalen)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 211 is negotiating with the college to ratify a new contract. Late last month, they rejected the college’s most recent offer. The school “wants to force new people to wait even longer to make a full rate, and the full rate is barely above livable wage,” said Mitch Daniels, union president and campus catering chef. “It’s kind of a slap in the face that the school considered putting that on paper and giving it to us.”
Daniels said inadequate pay is a driving cause behind the negotiations. “We are people who don’t want luxuries, we are not asking for a lot,” he said. “You should be able to work a 40-hour work week and live, not scrape by … The college is this multibillion-dollar corporation who is just putting the thumb down on people.”
The highest paid Smith College Dining Services position is $32.66 an hour while the lowest paid position earns $24.40, an overall average of $50,000 annually. Housekeepers earn between $24.65 and $28.65 an hour. This means that the highest full rate for dining workers and housekeepers is just $17 and $13 more than the state minimum wage, respectively. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a living wage in Hampshire County is $24.59 for one adult with no children, and $46.72 for one adult with one child.
Members of SEIU Local 211 and supporters rally outside Smith College, holding signs and banners advocating for fair contracts and worker solidarity (Photo by Jeromie Whalen)
Workers feel that they cannot support themselves and their community as they would like to. “We can’t afford to keep our own economy stimulated if the school is not willing to give us more money to do so,” said Daniels. “Without giving us proper wages, the school is technically going to help take the entire local community down because of us not being able to participate.”
The college’s most recent proposal would delay full rate until a worker has completed five years, up from three. They proposed six steps for pay steps over 25 years, starting at 15% below the full rate.
Meg Kennedy, a senior housekeeper who has worked at Smith for 38 years, said the pay system has changed dramatically. “I started in services, and I have worked at almost every job in dining and housekeeping here,” said Kennedy. “The college is saving a lot of money with people starting 15% down from the full rate.”
It wasn’t always like this. In the past several decades, the college has progressively decreased the salary for new essential workers at the school. “I started at the same rate as everyone else,” said Kennedy. “It was a totally different experience; it was a lot more of a community and more of a family in the houses than now.”
Daniels similarly noted, “there’s definitely been this move to a more corporate mindset.”
Union members said the protest was a call to the college to listen to their demands at the negotiation table. “We have been offering a tremendous amount of advice to have our kitchens flow better, our operations be more efficient,” Daniels said. “They are not willing to meet with us.”
Students and campus workers join together in a labor solidarity rally at Smith College. Handmade signs and banners reading “Smith Works Because We Do” and “Smith Labor United” emphasized the collective call for fair treatment of unionized employees across campus (Photo by Jeromie Whalen)
Carolyn McDaniel, Director of Media Relations & Strategic Communications at Smith, wrote that “leadership remains focused on reaching an agreement that supports our employees and sustains the institution’s long-term mission to educate women of promise.” She continued, “We remain … confident that we will reach a fair and equitable agreement.”
On Oct. 6, about one week prior, Smith announced that students with a family income of $150,000 or less will receive free tuition starting next year.
“We want to be treated like human beings and not be an afterthought,” said Rashad Uqdah, union business agent and cook. “If they can give free tuition, can they give a working-class person a fair wage?”
The workers also protested understaffing and excessive work. “We are working in kitchens that were made to feed 100 students, and now we are feeding 400 with the same equipment and we haven’t gotten any more staff with the increase in students,” Uqdah said.
Students joined the rally in support. Smith “profits off cheap labor and exploits its workers because it’s an institution and a corporation,” said Amina Castranovo, a member of the United Smith Student Workers Union. “Even though it’s technically a nonprofit, we know it doesn’t actually work that way.”
Amina Castranovo, a senior at Smith College and a member of the United Smith Student Workers Union, stands alongside fellow student organizers holding union banners (Photo by Jeromie Whalen)
The Dining Workers and Housekeepers Union, founded in the 1960s by women seeking fair pay, has a long history of activism.
“The idea of fighting for what we need to survive is something that was necessary in the first place, even before the union was formed,” said Daniels. “One of things we need to do is help inspire our own membership … because of what the women who formed the union … sacrificed to make all of this happen.”
Other campus and local unions, including those representing custodians, librarians and tenants of Northampton joined the rally. “If we are all going to be unions on this campus we need to support each other,” said Xochitl Quiroz, the first-year engagement and humanities librarian.
Xochitl Quiroz, First Years Engagement and Humanities Librarian (Photo by Jeromie Whalen)
Students carried signs reading “Smith College doesn’t work without dining workers and housekeepers,” and “Students for SEIU 211.” Maayan Rosenburg, a junior who attended the rally said, “I work in dining three days a week. I went to the protest to support my coworkers and fellow student workers who deserve more pay and respect than what we get.”
Several community members also demonstrated, including Jeromie Whalen, a local teacher running for the 1st Congressional District seat, which includes parts of the Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, Hampshire and Worcester counties. “It is really important to show our solidarity and to say to our unions that we stand strong when we stand together,” said Whalen.
“Smith teaches us how to use our voice to create meaningful change. This is exactly what we did,” said Rosenberg. “I hope Smith hears us and commits to valuing its workers the way it values its students.” Kennedy added, “Smith teaches us to do better, and I don’t always feel like they practice what they preach.”
Employees also emphasized wanting to feel proud of where they work. “I know we can never go back to the ‘80s and ‘90s, but I want Smith to be an employer again that people want to stay at and serve these students, and give these students great service because they feel appreciated by the college for their talents,” said Kennedy. “I love Smith and I want the new workers to love Smith as much as I do.”
The next contract negotiation sessions will take place on Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. to noon in Garrison Hall. They are open to the public, and the United Smith Student Workers are encouraging students to attend.
“We have a job to do and we are willing to do it, we just need a little more help, and the help comes from you all,” said Daniels, “who recognize we deserve fair treatment and dignity and respect at the negotiation table.”
This article was updated on Oct. 27 with corrected pay rates.
I was a student in the late 80s/early 90s (and the news editor of The Sophian), and it saddens me to see Ms. Kennedy’s comments that they can never go back to that time. Then, each house had its own kitchen. The dining staff knew all of us, and took care of all of us. It was more than just preparing meals. We felt loved, and we loved them right back. I still see that passion come through Smith Dining’s Facebook page. I am rooting for the staff to achieve an outcome that once again makes them feel proud to work for this wonderful school, and I’m rooting for the administration to achieve an outcome where they realize that the better they take care of their staff, the better outcomes will be for students, campus culture, and Smith’s reputation in the world.