Lunch Ladies Protest for Contract

School lunch ladies marched in front of the Town Hall Annex on Tuesday to protest what they said was unfair treatment from the school system's new food service provider.

The company, Chartwells, the food servers' employer, was hired by the Board of Education over the summer.

About 15 of the 46 unionized school food service workers walked up and down East Ridge Road at the end of the rainy school day, following the lead of an employee from the union, SEIU Local 2001.

"No contract!" the employee yelled through a speaker phone.

"No work—no peace!" the protesters replied.

The workers' biggest issue is that Chartwells is trying to replace employee pensions with a 401(k) retirement plan, but the company will not honor workers' requests for information as to how that change will affect their retirement stability, union communications director Matt O'Connor said. The union filed a complaint regarding the witheld information with the National Labor Relations Board against Chartwells' parent company, the Compass Group, last week.

The workers want the 401(k) information as well as for Chartwells and the union to "agree to some fair proposals we feel that these lunch ladies deserve," O'Connor said.

The school board has been taking a hands-off approach to the dispute, O'Connor said, since the food service workers are technically employed by Chartwells, even though the town's cafeteria workers urged the board not to hire the company, he said.

School board member Russell Katz said the board had to select the company it felt would best serve the district's students.

"I think the school system had to make a choice on the quality of food," he said, adding, "We tried to get both parties together to reach consensus, and we hope they will reach consensus."

Board of Education hopeful Charlie Primerano, the only union-endorsed candidate, joined the line of protesters.