by Thomas Breen
Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) cafeteria workers voted 92 to 2 Wednesday in support of authorizing a strike.
The vote came a week after Local 217-UNITE HERE food service workers at the state university on Fitch Street held a rally with students, faculty, politicians, and local labor allies at which they called for better wages — amid stalled contract negotiations with the food-services corporate giant Sodexo.
According to UNITE HERE local spokesperson Ian Dunn, the final vote of 92-2 took place after a day of in-person voting outside of SCSU’s cafeteria on Wednesday.
There are a total of 100 members in the bargaining unit.
Dunn sent out a press release late Wednesday night heralding the outcome as 98 percent of workers in the union voting to authorize a strike.
“The union remains ready to negotiate,” Local 217 Secretary-General Josh Stanley is quoted as saying in that same press release. “We should not have to call a strike as we are simply looking to reach a fair contract in line with other post-Covid contract settlements we are achieving.”
Dunn noted that Local 217-represented workers at Central Connecticut State University will hold a strike authorization vote next week.
Wednesday’s vote at Southern doesn’t mean that cafeteria workers are now on strike. Instead, it empowers union leadership to call a strike, now that they have the backing of their membership.
A Sodexo spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.