Photo by Carmen Mickelson ’24.
Months after their contracts initially expired, Facilities and Dining Services employees have signed contracts and will receive retroactive pay raises.
By Sophie Soloway ’23
Editor-in-Chief
Following months of negotiations with the Mount Holyoke College administration, and a lapse in contracted work, Facilities Management and Dining Services workers on campus have come to a consensus with the College. These recent agreements have resulted in across the board incremental wage increases during this fiscal year and over the rest of the three-year contractual period, according to a press release from the 32BJ chapter of the Service Employees International Union.
When workers’ contracts with the College initially lapsed in late June 2022, as previously reported by Mount Holyoke News, negotiations had already taken place on a weekly basis throughout May, with neither party reaching an agreement. As negotiations continued into July, much of the staff’s concerns revolved around wages, according to Steve Slater, an engineer at the College’s Central Heating Plant and shop steward for the facilities negotiating team.
According to Slater, both facilities and dining services employees sought out higher raise rates during spring negotiations, largely motivated by high inflation rates across the country. “Before we had agreed on … our proposals, we were just … at a standstill with the waging — not just for the inflation part of it that’s occurred over the past year now. But of course, ... going into this next … fiscal year … inflation is still high.”
The recently signed contracts are set to increase facilities workers like Slater’s salaries by “at least a 5.5-percent wages retroactive to July 1, 2022, and a three-percent wage increase on July 1, 2023 and 2024,” according to the SEIU 32BJ press release.
These increases, according to Slater, are high in comparison to recent contracts signed with the College, which, in his memory, generally granted two-percent wage increases to facilities workers and Dining Services employees alike. For Slater, those raises were insufficient in combating rising costs of living. “For years that two percent that they were giving us, you seem like you’re always taking a step back every year because of the cost of living, insurance, groceries, bills that we all have, unfortunately.”
The Union chapter echoed that, historically, the College has granted much lower wage-increase rates during previous negotiations. Roxana Rivera, the 32BJ chapter of the SEIU’s executive vice president, pointed to working conditions since the beginning of COVID-19 as an additional factor in changing this pattern. “The pandemic really moved people in this workforce in a way that … they were saying, we need more from the College. … I think we were able to kind of lift the floor.”
On top of these wage increases, facilities workers will receive an improved shoe allowance, which will provide more pairs of work shoes for workers that need them throughout the year. Facilities workers that did not previously receive uniforms will now be eligible for Mount Holyoke insignia.
According to Rivera, this request “[seemed] simple,” but was important in building a sense of belonging for many facilities employees on campus. “We had the example of one member that actually made his own shirt, he paid for his own shirt to say Mount Holyoke. Because, again, … they want to be proud about where they work, and [they’ve] spent so much of their life there, you know. They identify with the College.”
In addition to uniform and wage improvements, those facilities workers who are considered skilled laborers will also receive wage increases based on their particular fields and licenses. This group of employees has been divided into levels based on their role, and will receive raises corresponding to these categorizations.
Dining Services employees will receive identical wage increases with facilities workers, and are now entitled to wage increases relative to how long they’ve worked for the College. The Union reported that “over half of dining service workers will receive an immediate 12 percent increase and a third of workers with 10 or more years of service will get an immediate 18.5 percent increase” based on their respective amounts of time employed by the College.
Rivera reported that this longevity clause was introduced in order to recognize the commitments made by dining staff, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She shared that this ‘recognition for longevity’ has been “huge for morale because … the pandemic took a toll on people. But for this workforce in dining, it was even more because of the amount of short staffing there was. … They wanted that acknowledgement that they stepped up for the College when it was most needed.”
Slater voiced his hope that the wage increases would not only acknowledge this short-staffing burden, but alleviate it in some ways. “If they do start to hire … some more people to help in dining, [because] I know they’re short staffed, hopefully these increases and knowing what you’re gonna get over the next couple of years in a guaranteed raise will help bring people in.”
Additionally, according to Rivera, these wage increases run parallel to the financial gains made by the College during the same time period. “This was reflective of … how Mount Holyoke fared out of the pandemic. … They have a pretty strong projection in the years going forward. I think that we just want it to also be recognized in the workforce that makes it work on a daily basis,” Rivera said.
Continuing to look to the future, Rivera shared, “We’re looking towards having a good relationship with Mount Holyoke, because … workers rely on the College, [and the] College relies on them. I think that we’re looking to have a good labor-management relationship, and we’re [here to] help the College on certain issues, … like recruitment,” Rivera continued. “People in dining have so many years of service, they know how to do the job and they can help inform how things could work. … The workers want to do a good job and want to be able to share what they’ve learned to better the whole operation.”
“People in dining have so many years of service, they know how to do the job and they can help inform how things could work. … The workers want to do a good job and want to be able to share what they’ve learned to better the whole operation.”
In the meantime, Slater shared that he has already seen a better sense of morale among his coworkers, stating that the signing of these contracts “gives people a sense of appreciation for their job that they do here in whatever position they are in, throughout the tradesmen in facilities and even in dining.”