With their contract set to expire on the last day of June, Dining Services workers and UNITE HERE Local 26 will begin negotiating a new contract with Aramark on May 26, said Dana Simon, a staff member with UNITE HERE Local 26, in an interview with the Justice. UNITE HERE Local 26 is the union that represents about 125 unionized Brandeis Dining Services workers.

The current contract between Aramark-the food service provider contracted by the University-and the workers was last negotiated 5 years ago, wrote Director of Dining Services Aaron Bennos in an e-mail to the Justice.

If a new contract is not negotiated by the last day of June, the current contract will expire. However, Simon said he plans to continue negotiating.

Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins declined to comment on the negotiations, saying that the University contracts with Aramark to provide dining services and is therefore not involved in the talks between Aramark and the workers.

Dining Services workers have been meeting for several months in an effort to come to a consensus regarding which proposals they will put forth during the bargaining process with Aramark, according to Simon.

As of May 13, Simon said the proposals were finalized and that UNITE HERE representatives and volunteers from among the workers would meet with Aramark executives for the first time on May 26.

At that meeting, the union and the workers plan to present their proposals to Aramark management, said Simon.

The most important issues for the union members include livable wages, decent and affordable health insurance and regular and predictable employment, said Simon.

Simon said these issues are connected to the "movement for sustainability," which includes food grown and produced in sustainable ways.

Sustainability also refers to jobs "on which you can sustain yourself and your family" and have reliable employment, said Simon.

"One of the problems many or most of the Aramark workers have right now that we want to solve in the bargaining process is they don't necessarily know what their income is going to be week-to-week," said Simon. "Many people are struggling to be able to get 40 hours of work [per week]. Part of that is the result of the overuse of temporary workers-workers that are brought in from the outside that are very specifically not paid a livable wage with decent benefits."

Simon added, "The issue of sustainable jobs has become really heightened over the past few years as people have been struggling to get full-time work in many cases while at the same time they have seen dramatically increased use of temporary workers."

Temporary workers are brought in "almost every single day," and those involved in the bargaining process will thus try to reduce the number of temporary workers employed by Aramark, said Simon.

Workers have won greater wages and benefits over the years, but "those wages and benefits are not all they could be, and we want to address that in bargaining," said Simon. Additionally, "wages have not kept pace with the cost of living, so it is time to renegotiate the wages," he said.

"You have a group of Brandeis dining hall workers that are very committed to Brandeis and understand Brandeis. They are also very committed to the students. Some of those workers have worked here 20, 30 years and have very strong bonds with the institution and with the students," Simon said.

Simon added that there is a "very strong feeling with the workers that everyone in the workplace deserves to be treated with respect. . One of the things that they are going to want to express in bargaining is they feel very strongly that workers day-in, day-out need to be treated with respect as human beings."

Therefore, Simon said, "we want an affirmative and active commitment that everyone will treat each other with respect-managers and workers alike."

When asked if the negotiations will affect students who work for dining services, Simon said, "hopefully it will make their lives better also," both in terms of wages and "issues of workplace respect."

Simon declined to go further into detail about the bargaining proposals, as they have not yet been presented to Aramark management.

Bennos, who is employed by Aramark, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that "all decisions are important when it relates to our employees," and that salaries have increased for employees every year and that is expected to continue.

Bennos also wrote that a commitment to sustainable employment is "already in place." He did not respond to a further request for comment.

The Aramark website includes a section titled "Social Responsibility." The site states, "As one of the world's largest employers, our 255,000 worldwide employees are our most valuable and important asset. We provide competitive wages and benefits, embrace diversity, promote inclusion and encourage personal and professional development."

Rachel Sier '11, a member of the Brandeis Labor Coalition, a student club that focuses on promoting economic justice, described the goal of the BLC in an e-mail to the Justice. "In the upcomingnegotiationsthe Brandeis Labor Coalition's role is to rally the support of the Brandeis community so that the diningservices workers win a contract with raises, rights, respect," she wrote.

"It is important to acknowledge that the dining services workers are contracted directly with Aramark and not the University, so it is our goal todemonstrate to the Aramarkadministrationour Brandeis values and the inclusive community we have here on campus," she added.

The BLC recently circulated a petition titled "We support workers" that was designed to demonstrate "that Brandeis students, faculty,and staff are in favor of a contract that provides raises, rights and respect for all workers," according to the petition.

The online version of the petition garnered about 250 signatures with an additional 150 signatures in print.

Bennos wrote that Aramark would consider student opinions in the process. "We appreciate and listen to students opinions as it [sic] relates to dining," he wrote.

UNITE HERE Local 26 also represents other food services and hospitality industry workers in the greater Boston area.

For example, the union represents Harvard University dining services workers, who are involved in a similar bargaining process with the Harvard administration.

On May 13, Harvard dining hall workers and UNITE HERE members marched in Harvard Yard displaying signs and chanting, "We want justice!" and "Union power!" according to a Harvard Crimson article published that day.