By Kendall Robertson

Cafeteria Workers to Rally at UNBC Tomorrow

Nov 7, 2017 | 2:15 PM

Students and staff at UNBC will have to wait for their lunch tomorrow as food service staff will be taking the afternoon to rally for better wages and benefits. Staff are frustrated after the company they work for, Compass Group, has only offered a 20 cent per hour raise after two rounds of negotiations. Cafeteria staff say they don’t have benefits over the summer holiday to cover the cost of medical appointments and medications. They’re hoping the rally will help get Compass Group’s attention, and support from UNBC faculty.

“We’re not employed by the university, we’re subcontracted to them,” said Shop Steward and Cook, Jeannie Gilbert,”you read about the good wages for the employees of the university… not for us, we’re at the bottom of the pay scale.” The union says they’ll have another round of negotiations with Compass Group on November 17th.

Compass Group Canada is an Ontario based company that provides cafeteria services to schools, hospitals, and other businesses like the CN Centre. Earlier this year, cafeteria staff at Simon Fraser University protested against Compass over concerns of job security. In 2016, inmates at a Saskatchewan jail rallied against Compass Group’s food quality.

The rally will take place tomorrow at 1:30 in the courtyard at UNBC.