By Workers for Justice (Student Group Press Release)
Workers for Justice is a group of Claremont students standing in solidarity with dining hall workers. (http://www.workersforjustice.org)
Amidst Action and Coalition Building at Public Institutions Statewide, Workers, Students and Faculty are to organize around conflict at California’s wealthiest private college, Pomona. Anthony Chavez, grandson of Cesar Chavez, to speak.
Food service workers report chronic overwork, multiple injuries, unreliable work and benefits, and poverty pay. Over 90% of Pomona College’s food service staff and a third students have signed a petition to Pomona College President David Oxtoby calling for “Fair Process”.
President Oxtoby issued a statement to workers and students rejecting the workers’ desired method of unionization, the card check, in favor of the NLRB sanctioned “secret-ballot” vote. Workers explicitly selected the card check method because it subverts the threat of intimidation, a threat with recent historical precedent at the College.
Dissatisfied with the President’s response, workers and students will rally outside of the semi-annual Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday. This sequence of events is the culmination of a long history of labor struggle and student-worker solidarity at the College. Last Spring, at the request of food service workers, students organized a boycott of dining halls to address non-guaranteed summer work hours and holiday pay. Although workers received a slight increase in guaranteed hours, they continue to report working unpaid hours as well as failing to disclose injuries due to fear of reprisal.
What: Pomona College food service workers and students rally
Where: Marston Quad, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
When: 2:30 PM, Saturday, March 6th
*Photography and Video Available
For more information, including worker testimonials and additional coverage: