Mount Holyoke! Are you sick of all of your favorite dining stations being closed? More importantly, are you outraged at the fact that your “progressive” institution with a $1 billion endowment pays its essential staff less than most restaurant chains? Let the administration know!

Here are the facts:

Incoming housekeepers make MINIMUM WAGE ($14.25/hr)
Folks in the dishroom make $15.51/hr
Folks who work the salad bar make $17.49/hr
ALL cooks (regardless of experience level) make $23.57/hr
The dining and facilities worker union is meeting NOW with administration and needs your support. Mount Holyoke instructs us to, “develop an understanding of privilege and oppression” and honor, celebrate, and acknowledge, “the past and present historical struggles and achievements of groups from historically marginalized identities and underserved communities”. If they truly believe this, why do they continue to underpay and undervalue the people who make the college run? This is continuing the cycle of oppression in underserved communities they supposedly oppose. MHC’s current Statement of Community says the following:

Mount Holyoke College believes in the right, indeed the necessity, of free inquiry and free expression for every member of the college community…The citizen’s rights to free speech, free movement, free association, peaceful assembly, and orderly protest extend to every member of the College…The goal for the new century must be to build a community of students, faculty, and staff devoted to intellectual and creative freedom, critical inquiry, personal honor, ethical discernment, and responsibility. We must encourage openness and candor, dialogue and debate, and the creative engagement of all constituencies in building a genuine community… Ultimately the quality of life in the College is the property of the conscience of all its members. 

MHC, your students demand you provide the high quality of life you promise to ALL. We demand higher wages for the people who keep us well-fed and housed in clean environments. . . the people who make this college run! We demand that you raise the pay for dining and facilities workers.