Foodservice workers at George Brown College and Seneca College in Toronto voted yesterday, for a second time in less than three weeks, to confirm Workers United as their union of choice.
After being visited by Paul Clifford, President of UNITE HERE Local 75, just a little over a week ago, Evelyn Neequaye, a shop steward for George Brown College said: “When Paul told me that his union was trying to stop us from voting and that this was a good thing, I had to laugh. Their attempts to deny us our right to vote reminded me of all the reasons why we chose to leave Local 75 four years ago and chose to be part of the formation of Workers United last year.”
George Brown College, a former HERE Local 75 property, voted 14 to 0 to stay with Workers United which has represented them ever since Local 75 stopped representing food service workers in Ontario in 2006. This location was the site of heavy campaigning on the part of UNITE HERE, including visiting workers at their homes as early as 6am, calling them after 10pm, and having the president of Local 75 visit the workplace.
“I’m glad that UNITE HERE was unable to convince the board to delay this vote any longer. Getting the boxes sealed last week was very frustrating. Their last minute whining about employer interference when we decided to re-do the card signing process was also a waste of everyone’s time but we kept our focus and have this positive result” said Natalia Jankuloski, shop steward and cleaner at Seneca College. “They have to realize that wecan decide to not talk to them and there is no one to blame but themselves.”
Seneca College, also a site of heavy campaigning by UNITE HERE (workers report being visited by UNITE HERE paid organizers at least 12 times in a weekend), will now have the opportunity to focus on bargaining. This location was the site of a six-week long first-contract strike in 2007 that resulted in substantial wage improvements and health plan changes but only after the shutdown of campus during exam week. This was an initiative of Local 2742, the Toronto food service local, which voted last year to be part of forming Workers United.
Workers United represents more than 3000 food service workers in Ontario. These workers are employees of Aramark, Compass and Sodexo and include the Rogers Centre baseball stadium in Toronto. Before the merger, HERE had 150 food service workers. Through an aggressive organizing program, the newly formed food service local was grown to the size it is today and has become part of Workers United.
Visit www.handsoffourunion.ca for more information.
