Union members winning high-profile strikes

In recent weeks, union members as varied as dining hall workers, whiskey distillers and university faculty have won fair contracts by making the tough decision to go out on strike.

At Harvard University, dining hall workers who are members of Unite Here Local 26 were out on strike for nearly three weeks. But on Oct. 27, they went back to work with their key goal met: a guaranteed annual wage floor of $35,000. In addition, the university backed off its proposal to increase workers’ out-of-pocket health insurance expenses. Harvard closed nearly half of its dining halls during the work stoppage, with those that remained open staffed by managers, temporary workers, and nonunion employees.

Elsewhere, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers at two Jim Beam distilleries in Kentucky went back to work Oct. 21 after a week on strike. Their walkout centered not on money, but time with their families. Even with part-timers helping out, many of the union workers said they have been putting in 60 to 80 hours a week producing the whiskey, whose brand is owned by a Japanese beverage company. The final settlement was ratified overwhelmingly after the company agreed to hire more full-time workers instead of relying on temps.

And in Pennsylvania, the first faculty strike in the history of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education ended Oct. 21 with a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF). The three-day strike by 5,000-plus APSCUF professors affected 105,000 students at 14 campuses. Numbers from the system suggested an overwhelming majority of APSCUF faculty refused to cross the picket lines, forcing schools to rely on administrators or simply dismiss classes. The tentative contract provides raises and includes only modest increases in employee contributions for health insurance.