The dining hall workers at Harvard have, for several decades, been receiving a pretty raw deal. Perhaps in June, when they renegotiate their contracts, things can be improved some. For those of you who aren’t as familar with the situation as you’d like to be, I’ll outline a few of the more greivous details.

• The staff gets paid only six months out of the year. Harvard would tell you they work between nine and nine and a half months each year, and, technically, Harvard would be right. However, whenever the students are on vacation, the College gives the dining hall staff a unpaid vacation. For Christmas, some hall managers force their employees to use up their personal and vacation days over the holiday. Harvard is generous enough to pay wages on Christmas Day, but not for those who work less than 20 hours a week.
• During the summer, Harvard hires out its dining services to about seven hundred contractors. Because their six-month cannot sustain equitable living the entire year, term-time workers have to find another job over the summer in order to survive. Some move cannot afford housing in the summer and must move in with family, sometimes requiring workers to relocate across state lines. Others who are bound to leases must compete with their colleagues for jobs. There is no humane reason for Harvard’s large, summer outsourcing.
• Harvard dining hall worker pay does not respect seniority. After working two years, a worker make the same wages as another who had faithfully served for thirty-five years. And while the cost of living continues to rise, Harvard dining hall workers’ wages have not. Some workers must supplement their full-time jobs at Harvard with one or more part-time jobs even during the school year.

Meetings to organize within the Local 26 and things you can do to help will be announced here in the coming days.