NU food service workers picket at the Arch, call for a more fair contract

Over a hundred Northwestern food service and hospitality workers picketed the Arch on Friday, calling for a new, fair contract with their employer, Compass Group.

As workers marched from the Arch to Deering Meadow, they held signs emblazoned with “NO CONTRACT” and “UNITE HERE” and called for a new contract through chants in English and Spanish. This picket— the first of its kind in three years— was part of a campaign by workers and union organizers to pressure Compass Group as it negotiates a new contract.

Their most recent contract, which had been in place since 2021, expired at the end of August, leaving the workers to operate without a contract. While the Compass Group has extended the protections offered to the workers under the 2021 contract during negotiations with the workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 1, workers view these current provisions as insufficient. Given the sharp inflation over the past three years, workers are advocating for inflation-adjusted, fair wages and an increased pension.

“Everything went up. I used to spend $150 or $100 when I used to go to the grocery store, and now I always spend double,” said Hugo Lemus, a lead cook in Allison Dining Hall.

After the contract update in 2021, Lemus said the wage increase allowed him to provide for his family without taking on an extra job. But as costs have risen across the board, he now works nights as an Uber driver to supplement his income.

In addition to fair, family-sustaining raises and increased pensions, workers emphasized the need for a specific provision that guarantees job security. In April, Northwestern announced the closure of the Kellogg School of Management’s James L. Allen Center, currently home to the Executive MBA and Executive Education programs. This left over 80 of its employees uncertain about whether they would have a job after Thanksgiving. While most have received new placements elsewhere at the University, Compass Group has yet to guarantee job security for all workers once the Center closes.

For many workers, such as Valentina Espinoza— a room attendant at the business school’s James L. Allen Center for 20 years— this uncertainty has created a climate of fear and unease in the workplace. Although Espinoza has been placed in a new position during the Allen Center’s closure, she came to the picket to push for a more fair contract.

“I love the Northwestern community and want to keep working here until I retire,” she said. “We shouldn’t have to worry about how we are going to feed our families when the company changes or decides to close a building. We deserve to have job security.”

Several Northwestern students attended the picket, motivated by what they view as mistreatment of workers by both Compass and Northwestern. These workers are “the foundation of the campus community,” said one student in attendance, a member of Students Organizing for Labor Rights, who requested anonymity due to fear of retribution.

“I came to demonstrate that workers do have a voice and that we need to be in solidarity with workers, and that we will keep coming out until they’re treated fairly,” the student added.

Solidarity between workers, union representatives and students has historically been crucial to securing gains with the multi-billion dollar Compass Group. In 2021, it took a near-strike for the company to negotiate a new contract granting the workers a raise and guaranteed health insurance. This time, workers like Eric Brown, a longtime Allen Center employee, are confident their solidarity will help win them a fair contract without such drastic measures.

“Standing together, fighting together. When we mobilize, organize and stand together, we win,” Brown said.