We're a group of Chartwells employees at the University of Florida dining halls/restaurants. We're fed up with issues like low wages, disrespectful management, and abusive labor practices.
The base $15 an hour wage the majority of employees receive is no longer sustainable between massive inflation, rising food/gas costs, and rent prices skyrocketing. To make matters worse, foreign visa workers are subjected to only $13 an hour as management exploits their labor. Every single employee on campus deserves a fair and livable wage. From our utility/dish workers that tirelessly keep areas sanitary, to our front-line workers and cashiers on their feet for hours at a time driving transactions and serving customers, to our cooks that grind away in front of hot stoves/grills all day making the best meals for students possible....all of us are an important part of the equation.
The value of our labor drives the entire operation and without us......NO profit gets made.
You also have disrespectful management. Many managers/supervisors across various locations on campus will treat their employees like children, attempt to bully/intimidate some employees, and many will often sit around most of the day eating/talking while barking orders at staff.
In addition management generally has no care for the livelihoods of their workforce. They'll often issue same day layoffs with no advance notice, leaving workers scrambling to figure out how to meet rent for the month or where their next meal will come from. Scheduling for employees is also highly inconsistent with many being given full schedules only to be told to go home early because of "business needs" (while managers/supervisors still get their full day's pay), or the flip side of that they'll expect employees at some locations to stay hours after their scheduled time often well past midnight (While most of the managers/supervisors get to go home) without any care for employee needs like children or other personal matters.
These unfair practices need to end. Every single worker deserves dignity and respect.
How can we solve these issues?
The only way to truly put an end to it all is to organize all of our workers into a union. You can't count on management to act on their own as they only care about profit and their various bonuses. You equally can't count on Human Resources as contrary to popular belief, Human Resources does not exist for the benefit of employees but to protect the company's bottom line. They are not your friends, nor do they care about you despite how "nice" some of them might seem. The only path forward is to form a union to force management to come to the table and negotiate a fair deal that gives every employee the livable wages and respect they deserve.
How do we form a union?
It's going to be a multi month process. We'll need about 30% of employees across campus to sign union authorization cards, these will show interest in a union as well as have your contact information ready to properly make you a union member once the process is completed. These will stay confidential between the union and the National Labor Relations Board (govt agency that handles unions/labor). All non-management Chartwells employees are eligible, including those at franchised locations like Starbucks/Chic Fil-A/Subway. After the 30% we'll petition the NLRB to hold a union election for Chartwells across campus, and once that's done the union will be formed.
If you want to sign an authorization card, give us a call or email to the contact info below. We're also in need of employees to join our union committee, to represent their locations on campus as well as to assist in the effort of getting people signed up. Don't be afraid to ask if you're interested or have any other concerns. All input is welcomed.
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