Kevin Hollins, a catering driver, worked on Howard University’s campus for eight years before mid-March, when he and other subcontracted food service workers were temporarily laid off as the coronavirus shut down campus facilities. Now he’s filing for unemployment to help support his two teenage sons and nine-month-old daughter.
He described his financial situation as “very stressful.”
“It kind of messed up my savings,” he said. “The money that I did save, I’m dipping into that already, not knowing when we’ll go back to work.”
Technically, Howard University wasn’t Hollins’ employer. It’s Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company hired by the university. But Hollins feels like a part of the campus community, he said, comparing it to “family.”
Hollins is one of more than 400 subcontracted food service workers laid off from Washington D.C. universities, who are calling on their universities to ensure they receive pay and health benefits through the end of the semester. Their union, UNITE HERE, is asking Howard University, Catholic University, Gallaudet University and Trinity Washington University to pay their companies’ contracts in full so contractors can more easily provide wages for workers and maintain their health benefits during the pandemic, which is the union’s main focus.
For now, the union is taking care of workers’ health benefits. But if it continues, the health fund reserve will fall below 50% by June, which isn’t sustainable, said Damiana Dendy, a research analyst with UNITE HERE.
Through an email campaign, the union has been petitioning these universities to come to an agreement with companies, but as of this week, 113 emails to Howard University, 50 to Catholic University and 11 to Gallaudet University went without response, Dendy said.
