Student dining hall workers at Smith College have unionized, hoping to bargain with the College for better wages and working conditions.

According to a press release from the newly formed union, Smith student workers are “[responding] to the mistreatment of student dining workers specifically relating to pay, training, safety concerns and management.”

The new United Smith Student Workers (USSW) is associated with the Office of Professional Employees International Union which “represents approximately 88,000 workers in the public and private sectors across the US,” according to the press release. The USSW aims to protect undergraduate student employees from the dining hall, campus cafes and catering services.

Before bargaining can begin, the College must officially recognize the Union.

Raia Gutman, a sophomore at Smith College, currently works at the Cutters-Ziskind dining hall and said that new student hires are often not trained or not trained efficiently. “In the dining halls you just show up the first day and you have to ask other students [what to do]…in a really hot, loud dish room.”

“It was really, really stressful to go in without training,” Gutman said.

“Training is conducted on an informal, ad-hoc basis, usually by other student workers,” the press release stated. “This has resulted in accidents such as burns from hot water and slips and falls on wet floors, as well as inconsistent implementation of health and safety standards.”

Smith College junior Lilly Bouler quit her job at the campus center cafe due to the working conditions there. Bouler claimed she received “absolutely no training whatsoever.”

“The main thing is we were always incredibly understaffed and overworked,” Bouler said. “It was constant being on your feet.”

Both Gutman and Bouler claimed that is a common occurrence for students to burn their hands while working on the dishwashing line, due to a lack of knowledge on how to use the machinery. Both also claimed frequent mistreatment by upper management.

The press release states that “student workers face harsh mistreatment by managers like unexpected hour cuts and the addition of job duties outside the scope of their roles as dining workers.”

Bouler noted that full-time students are only allowed to work 10 hours a week at their campus job, as mandated by the college. According to Bouler, 10 hours per week at minimum wage is not sufficient for some student employees, so the Union plans to bargain for higher wages from the College.

The formation of the USSW follows a wave of undergraduate unionization all over the country, due to student employees feeling underpaid and overworked.

USSW held a rally on Friday, Nov. 17 that was attended by around 60 people, including student workers, full-time dining union members and local labor group members. USSW is still waiting on a response from the College on the recognition of the Union.

Smith College’s media relations office has not responded to the Daily Collegian’s request for comment.

Grace Lee can be reached at [email protected].