Dining hall workers vote to authorize a strike late Thursday night

Daily file photo by Seeger Gray
Dining hall workers had the opportunity to vote on Thursday.

https://dailynorthwestern.com/2025/02/28/campus/dining-hall-workers-vote-to-authorize-a-strike-late-thursday-night/

Leah Schroeder, Campus Editor
February 28, 2025
Editor’s note: Some interviews in this story were conducted with the help of a translator. Responses originally stated in Spanish have been translated to English.

Valentina Espinosa has worked in Northwestern University dining halls for 21 years. She started as a housekeeper in the Allen Center and transferred to become a catering attendant at the downtown campus after the Allen Center was closed.

Now that she has transferred, Espinosa and the rest of her coworkers on the downtown campus will not be protected by the Workers’ Retention Ordinance passed in an 8-0 vote at an Evanston City Council meeting Tuesday night, which was designed to protect employees in food, hospitality and janitorial services.

Since the contract between Compass Group and UNITE HERE Local 1, which includes about 500 employees at NU, expired Aug. 31, 2024, workers have been pushing for a fair contract which guarantees job security for all workers, fair wages and an acceptable pension.

Espinosa is one of hundreds of cooks, cashiers, baristas, dishwashers and catering workers employed by Compass that voted to authorize a strike late Thursday night to protest this situation, along with their wages, pension and work environment, according to a press release.

FULL story at link above.