Newly unionized cafeteria workers at the U.S. Senate and Capitol may be laid off this month, a victim of a contract squabble between a Congressional agency and the vendor that employs them.
In November roughly 137 food service employees in the Senate and Capitol cafeterias unionized with UNITE HERE, a union representing 300,000 workers across industries including hospitality, manufacturing, and transportation.
But the workers haven't yet won a contract, and on July 13 56 workers were told they would no longer have the same jobs in the Senate and Capitol Visitor Center, according to Roll Call. The contractor employing the workers, Restaurant Associates, informed them they could take a job on the campus of George Washington University, or else be laid off on July 28.
This is the second time the food service workers have faced layoffs this year. In April Democratic senators redirected $3.75 million of pandemic funding to avert job losses. It was supposed to keep the workers employed through Sept. 30.
For its part, the union blames the Senate, since its needs to approve any restructuring and the necessary funding. Amy Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota, who chairs the rules committee that has jurisdiction over the Capitol complex, and would be overseeing the new contract.
"Since a wave of layoffs was rescinded in April, Klobuchar has refused to take the steps needed to secure a good contract for the workers," UNITE HERE said in a July 15 statement. Klobuchar's press secretary didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
And Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is looking for the right person to blame
"There was a clear, unambiguous promise that there will be no layoffs until after September 30, and I want to know what happened," Warren told Latino Rebels, a Latino news site.
observer.com
