(BOSTON) - After Nine Months of Organizing Supported by Students in Emerson P.R.I.D.E. (Progressives and Radicals in Defense of Employees), 100 Food Service Workers at Emerson College in Boston Have Won Union Recognition With UNITE HERE Local 26.

The Sodexo Food Service Workers Joined UNITE HERE Local 26 Following an Overwhelming Vote in Favor of Unionization, Union Officials said.  

Workers First Presented a Petition to Management in April, With Strong Backing From the Campus Community in Which They Asked for a Fair Process to Determine Union Representation.  

Twenty-Five Student Groups Organized in Support of the Food Service Workers’ Organizing Drive, While the Emerson College Faculty Assembly Voted Unanimously to Support it.

The New Local 26 Members are Looking Forward to Bargaining Their First Union Contract.

“The Work We Do to Feed the Campus Helps Make Emerson Strong,” Organizing Committee Member and Baker Donna Papastavrou said.  “We’re Proud to be Part of This Community and to Have ‘Stood Together’ to Win Respect and a ‘Voice On the Job.’”

Another Emerson Food Service Worker, Luis Miranda, Often Spoke About How Through This Campaign, He Found a New Family in the Workers he Organized Beside and the Students Who Supported Him.  “I Know I’ve Found a ‘Family’ Through This Fight and I’m Overwhelmed With Love and Gratitude for Every Person Who Made This Victory Possible,” he said.

The Emerson Workers Join Food Service Workers at 10 Other Boston Area Colleges and Universities in Local 26, Including Harvard, MIT and Northeastern University.

You Can Directly Access This Labor News Story at: http://usas.org/2014/10/13/victory-food-service-workers-at-emerson-college-win-union/ a http://www.local26.org/2014/10/emerson-college-dining-workers-join-local-26/nd