News

HMS Is Facing a Deficit. Under Trump, Some Fear It May Get Worse.

News

Cambridge Police Respond to Three Armed Robberies Over Holiday Weekend

News

What’s Next for Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery Initiative?

News

MassDOT Adds Unpopular Train Layover to Allston I-90 Project in Sudden Reversal

News

Denied Winter Campus Housing, International Students Scramble to Find Alternative Options

UNIONS OBJECT TO PUTTING STUDENT WAITERS IN JOBS

Cooks and Waitresses, Led by Stefani, Mention Use of Strike to Keep Status Quo on Student Workers

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

Proposals to replace 10 waitresses in the Business School dining halls by an equal number of student waiters and to lay off other waitresses and kitchen help as an economy move were bitterly attacked at a joint meeting of the Waitresses' Union, local 112 and the Cooks and Pastry Cooks, local 186 in Cypress Hall last night.

Joseph Stefani, business agent of the unions and organizer of the near-strike last year which brought wage increases necessitating a rise in board costs, stated after conferences with Joseph S. Lichty, Assistant Dean, that action on the matter had been put off until June.

Describing the move as the fore-runner of a general attempt to put students in union members' jobs, Stefani declared, "We threatened to strike once and we'll do it again." Throughout the meeting loud applause greeted speakers who mentioned the strike threat.

Disagree on Agreement

The union leader called the substitution of students for union members an "unfair labor practice," differing with the University's interpretation of the agreement signed last March.

This contract states that the agreement applies to all dining hall and kitchen workers "except students in the University who are or may be employed therein as a means of enabling them to pay part of their expenses while studying at the University."

Stafani said he had no objection to the present ratio of students to waitresses.

The union members heatedly called for the firing of the few remaining non-union employees in the kitchens and dining-halls before any of them were laid off, but Stefani explained that it was illegal to strike for a closed shop. A resolution was passed, however, requiring petitions to be circulated to the effect that the employees did not wish to work with non-unionists.

Henry A. Burgess '40, chairman of the Student Council committee investigating the dining-hall situation, said last night that his committee had been considering the possibility of having student waiters, but had reached no decision. The results of the investigation will be announced early next semester, he stated.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags