Video: Hunter College Cafeteria Workers and Students React to Negotiations with AVI
As we announced late last week, unless AVI changes it stance on the Hunter College workers’ health benefits and pension, there will be an all-day boycott of all AVI food outlets at Hunter College on October 29th 2009. Here’s why it’s necessary:
The Hunter College cafeteria workers have received free family health benefits for years. AVI, the food service company that just came into Hunter College, has continually refused to respect this established job standard. At the most recent negotiation between the workers and the company, on October 8th, AVI continued to put forth a proposal that would result in the workers paying a significant, and increasing, sum for their health benefits.
Under AVI’s proposal the workers would go from having free family health benefits last year and in years past to having to pay $141.98 per month by 2011-2012. Here’s a summary of the Hunter College AVI workers’ health care costs per month under AVI's most recent official proposal:1
- 2008-2009-- $0
- 2009-2010-- $50.46
- 2010-2011-- $93.53
- 2011-2012-- $141.98
The workers, as you can imagine, were pretty upset upon hearing AVI’s latest official offer. Here’s an immediate post-negotiations reaction from Debbie, Paula, Lisa and Aisha, four of the cafeteria workers, outside of the UNITE HERE Local 100 office in New York.2
Several students and faculty from Sarah Lawrence College and Hunter College were in attendance at the negotiations as well. Here’s the response from Hunter College student Owen Hill.
1. Figures are based on 4.35 weeks per month; annual contribution rates run on September to September schedule.
2. Several small corrections. When Debbie states that the company is asking them to contribute $12 towards their pension fund, she means towards their health benefit fund, per week, this year; the exact number is $11.60 per week for ’09-’10. Several times Debbie complains that the company offered “the same” proposal. Taken literally this is not accurate, since, though the proposal was similar, there were several key differences.
