Dozens of lawmakers back Senate cafeteria union drive

After months of publicly demanding union recognition, the people who serve U.S. senators their crab cakes and curry spiced salmon have won the support of some of their most powerful customers.

On Friday, 33 members of the Democratic caucus — representing 75 percent of all Democrats in the Senate — issued an open letter to the CEO of Compass Group, asking that it grant union recognition if a majority of Senate cafeteria employees express a desire to unionize. Compass Group, a private firm based in the United Kingdom, manages the Senate cafeteria through its subsidiary, Restaurant Associates.

“The time has come for the Compass Group to ensure Senate cafeteria workers have a model employer that addresses its workers’ legitimate concerns,” said the letter, which was signed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont, among others. “We request therefore that the Compass Group commit to reaching an agreement with the union seeking to organize these workers."

Such an agreement, the senators said, must require that the company “recognize the union as the worker’s exclusive bargaining representative on the basis of a majority representation of signed authorization cards."

The senators also called on Compass Group to “rigorously abide by its obligations under U.S. labor law to refrain from intimidation and discrimination against employees seeking to join a union.” Good Jobs Nation, the labor group organizing the cafeteria workers, has accused Compass Group of illegally intimidating employees associated with the union drive. The National Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of Good Jobs Nation on some of the formal charges it made, and the two parties settled.

Compass Group did not return a request for comment.

Some of the letter’s signatories have previously shown support for the union drive. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, for example, joined a recent boycott of the cafeteria organized by senate staffers who support the labor campaign. Sanders has spoken at multiple Good Jobs Nation rallies, and both Brown and Sanders co-signed an August letter to the ranking members of the Senate Rules Committee, asking that they investigate the allegations of unfair labor practices and keep those charges in mind while renegotiating the government’s contract with Restaurant Associates.

Senate cafeteria worker Santos Villatoro said in a statement from Good Jobs Nation that he found the senators’ support “encouraging.” He reiterated the group’s call for President Barack Obama to use his executive authority over government contracts to promote unionization.

“Since the Senators are leading by example and helping us to form a union, maybe the President will follow and help other striking contract workers,” he said.

Good Jobs Nation protesters have successfully pressed the White House on wages, resulting in an executive order that raised the minimum wage at all companies with federal contracts to $10.10. The group is now demanding an additional hike to $15 an hour, and another executive order that would encourage collective bargaining at private contractors. Effectively, the group is asking for “$15 and a union,” the rallying cry for fast food workers and other low-wage service employees affiliated with the Fight For $15 campaign.

The Fight For $15 campaign has institutional ties to Good Jobs Nation, which is backed by the labor federation Change to Win. The union SEIU, the chief backer of Fight For $15, is a Change to Win member.

Several signatories to the Friday letter, notably Sanders, are vocal supporters of the Fight For $15 protests.