Thompson Hospitality Workers at Virginia State University and Norfolk State University Unionize with UNITE HERE

RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nearly 250 campus dining workers at two of Virginia’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Virginia State University (VSU) and Norfolk State University (NSU), have officially won union recognition. In late March, workers at both campuses called on their employer, Thompson Hospitality, a subcontracted campus food service provider, to voluntarily recognize their union.

"...the workforces at VSU and NSU are majority Black, and this victory will bring their compensation up to par with other unionized campus dining workers throughout Virginia, the South, and the nation."

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“I’m proud of the hard work and resilience it took for me and my coworkers to show Thompson Hospitality that, just like workers at all the other union universities, we deserve better wages and excellent healthcare at VSU. I personally can’t wait until the contract so that I can be able to pay my bills and still have some funds left over to go see my family in Louisiana!” said Nikita “Miss Nikki” Whitten, a cook for four years with Thompson Hospitality at Virginia State University.

“I am so proud to welcome Thompson Hospitality workers at Virginia State and Norfolk State to UNITE HERE Local 23. Our new union members have won the right to negotiate a union contract and secure higher wages, affordable quality health insurance, and a pension plan that means they can retire on with dignity. This is an opportunity for workers to earn the wages and benefits that match the care they afford to students every day. What’s more, the workforces at VSU and NSU are majority Black, and this victory will bring their compensation up to par with other unionized campus dining workers throughout Virginia, the South, and the nation,” said Marlene Patrick Cooper, President of UNITE HERE Local 23.

The workers at VSU and NSU will become members of UNITE HERE Local 23. They’ll join over 1,500 dining workers across Virginia who have unionized with UNITE HERE since 2022, including those at Virginia Commonwealth University, the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Longwood University, Old Dominion University, and the University of Mary Washington.

Now, dining services workers at Hampton University have called on Thompson Hospitality to agree to the same fair process to recognize their union as it has followed at VSU and NSU.

UNITE HERE 23 represents 28,000 hospitality workers in universities, museums, airports, casinos, hotels, and parking facilities — including over 1,500 dining workers across Virginia. Local 23 members are active in Boise; Denver; Georgia; Indiana; Mississippi; Nashville; North Carolina; New Mexico; New Orleans; Oklahoma; Texas; Virginia; and Washington, D.C.