Hospitality Workers at Two Virginia HBCUs Push for Union Rights

Marcella Greene has worked food service long enough to know what it costs her. Though Greene is new to Norfolk State's dining hall, she's worked on other college campuses. Now she's done staying quiet. "Me wanting a union? This is about working conditions, poor pay, and respect. What do I have left for my kids, my man, my community if work takes it all?" she said.

Greene and her coworkers on the organizing committee presented a petition to Thompson Hospitality managers, telling the company they plan to unionize and asking it not to stand in the way. Dining workers at Virginia State University in Petersburg made the same move the same week. Both campuses are served by Thompson Hospitality, a subcontracted food service provider that UNITE HERE says holds contracts on campuses throughout the Eastern U.S., including more than a dozen HBCUs. Thompson Hospitality is the largest HBCU food service provider in the country.

The workforce at both Norfolk State and Virginia State is majority Black, according to UNITE HERE, which is coordinating the organizing push through Local 23. "It also isn't unnoticed that with two majority Black workforces, this is another chance to broaden equity across Virginia," said Marlene Patrick Cooper, president of UNITE HERE Local 23. "Workers at Norfolk State and VSU won't be left behind."

The central grievances at both campuses track closely: low pay, irregular schedules, inadequate equipment, high turnover, and almost no training. Nikita "Miss Nikki" Whitten, a cook who has managed to stay four years at Virginia State, put it plainly. "It's rare to have someone stay longer than two years. They barely get any training, and the work they ask versus what they pay doesn't make sense. We have to rob Peter to pay Paul and still can't afford to see the doctor. This is why we're organizing a union."

Workers say the pay is so low it's a struggle to cover electric bills or do routine car maintenance, let alone afford health insurance. Management, they say, does not do enough to ensure the respect and dignity of the people who prepare, serve, and keep dining services running every day on both campuses.

According to UNITE HERE, over 1,500 other dining workers across Virginia have already unionized with the labor union, beginning in 2022 at institutions like Old Dominion University and the College of William and Mary. Workers at NSU and VSU are asking to join that wave rather than be passed over because of where they work.

With a supermajority of workers, well over half, supporting the union effort, the decision now rests with Thompson Hospitality. The company had not issued a public response as of publication. Neither Norfolk State nor Virginia State administrations had commented on the subcontractor relationship or the workers' demands. Greene expressed concerns about retaliation from the company, such as wrongful termination or intimidation — a fear familiar to anyone who has ever been first to sign a card.