Where’s the “Equity” for our dining workers?

The Tufts Labor Coalition will be organizing a rally in front of Dewick Macphie Dining Hall on Tufts University campus on Friday, July 30^th at 3 p.m. Attending the rally will be Tufts Dining workers, Somerville and Medford community members and organizations, Tufts students, and local elected officials. Speakers will include workers, students, and community members. The rally will serve as a way to stand in solidarity with Tufts Dining workers as they demand that the Tufts administration either pay them during Summer 2021 or allow them to collect unemployment insurance until the Fall Semester.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the usual summer work for Dining staff at Tufts is severely limited – over 130 Dining workers have not been given the opportunity to work this summer. The workers who rely on this summer income were not given warning. Many of them have sought to collect unemployment insurance over the summer, but their claims have been contested by the University, preventing them from collecting. They have been left with no paycheck for over two months.

“So that means catering had to close, that means retail closed, that means central kitchen closed. And the bakery department closed — which is always open in the summertime — the bakers have been working there for 40 years … and they have no job for them,” said Tricia O’Brien, a Tufts Dining worker and shop steward for UNITE HERE Local 26.

About the Tufts Labor Coalition: TLC is a Tufts student organization that promotes community and solidarity between students and campus workers. We believe that anybody contributing to Tufts should be respected and treated as a member of the community, and we advocate for dignified treatment of the individuals who make our Tufts experience what it is.