Today we are proud to announce a historic agreement with the dining workers union UniteHere217.

What began two years ago as a tumultuous confrontation between our companies and the union and divided our staff, has grown into a productive relationship built on mutual respect and understanding. Poor communication in the early days led to our not understanding the union’s positions or intentions and the union not understanding ours.

Since September of 2023, both sides have worked diligently and honestly to achieve what is in the best interests of the employees, the companies and our customers. During the summer of 2024, the university agreed to amend our contract and reduce the fees that our companies pay to Wesleyan. This enabled us to offer a competitive contract that included raises in pay and benefits. We have spent the past six months working out the details of the initial Collective Bargaining Agreement that covers not only wages and benefits, but terms of employment, grievances, discipline, seniority and a myriad of other rights and procedures that are now codified in the agreement.

We are grateful to everyone who helped bring about this agreement. Our attorney, Patrick McHale led us through a process that was unknown to us at the start. Union representative, Henry Schmitt has been an honest broker and worked with everyone as we navigated and negotiated our agreement.

We believed then and do now that by bringing all the parties together and truly understanding all sides of the situation, we could achieve a result that benefits, our staff, our companies, our customers and the university dining program.

With this CBA now signed, we can look forward to many years of doing what we do best, providing the Wesleyan community with the best food and dining experience on any university campus.

                                                                                Karen & Ed