Food Workers at USC Stage One-Day Walkout
Most of the approximately 300 food service and housing workers at USC walked off their jobs Wednesday in a one-day protest of what they view as a lack of job security and to demand long-term contracts for all employees, union officials said.
A spokesman for Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union estimated that 90% of the university’s food service and housing workers walked off their jobs. Campus officials said about 60% walked out.
The main issue, union officials said, was USC’s refusal to provide job security for workers who have been employed for less than 10 years.
“The workers that have been here 10 years or more are standing by those who have not been here that long,” said union spokesman James Elmendorf.
USC officials say they have tried to provide the best contract, but union negotiators have not been flexible.
“They want absolute job security and no one on the entire campus has that,” said Tom Moran, vice president of USC’s Business Affairs Department. Moran said the strike had “almost no impact” on food service at the school.
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