
The three-year contract includes provisions that guarantee sizeable wage increases, pension contributions, affordable health care, and more sick days and vacation time, said John Preston, Local 929’s secretary-treasurer. It also means workers won’t have to wait every August to find out whether they will still have a job for the coming school year.
Troy Harris, assistant shop steward who has worked in the
dining hall for 13 years, said there are many benefits to the deal:
We don’t have to walk a tightrope to get a raise. Everything in in our contract.
Preston hopes the new contracts will encourage the almost
100 other full-time cafeteria workers that are still at-will employees to join
the Teamsters:
“We’re pursuing all Bon Appetit employees at the University of Pennsylvania,” he said, adding that he hopes they will “become aware of the benefits of being covered by a union.”