Members of the Food Service Workers Local 217 gathered on campus marching to Gengras Student Union regarding their current contract negotiations to Aramark management. Several cafeteria workers from other campuses and corporations came together for a similar cause and to support their fellow workers at the University of Hartford.

The issue was regarding health insurance. These workers are no longer being provided free health insurance and will have to pay for these expenses out-of-pocket. The 217 is the Union health that helped them plan and set up the march from Konover to GSU and the rally on the Gengras lawn.

“This rally is about all of our union employees coming together to send a message out to the company that we are tired of all of their cutbacks, that it affects our lives in the state of Connecticut, and that we are not the only university trying to send this message out,” University of Hartford employee expresses on how these workers feel that the companies they work for are being deprived of wages, hour, and doing jobs that they love.

The Union expressed themselves by using the phrase “No Contract, No Peace” in order to tell their stories and why taking away their health insurance does not follow their moral compass.

The Union workers do not plan on stopping anytime soon and will continue rallying in many different locations to come.