CI Workers Strike for Contract Negotiation
Jamie Calderon | CAMPUS LIFE EDITOR
September 3, 2026
“We have been sitting around, waiting for answers about the proposal and nobody says nothing. We feel like they [their management company] are playing with us. Like they do not care.”
– Negotiation Chair Daisy Machado
As temperature on campus soared to the high 90s, things were heating up outside the Campus Inn (CI) as Bon Appetit staff, custodians, and union leaders from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Local 11 led a protest on Aug. 26. They marched outside for an hour alongside professors and students to raise awareness of the stalled negotiations between the unions and the third-party companies Whittier College uses to employ our cooks and custodians. The biggest concern for the staff is the rising cost of living, our Bon Appetit workers say their wages have not kept pace with the economy.
“Nowadays the price of everything is increasing so we just try to get them to match our wage to the economy,” states Hugo Talavera, a chef who, like all CI staff, works for Bon Appetit.
“Sometimes the company does not see all the hard work we do. They say [that] they appreciate it but everything is going up, now gas is almost at six dollars a gallon, like before it was at THREE dollars and 25 cents.”
Along with cost of living, many CI staff raised concerns about the hazardous conditions in the workplace. As the heat rises in the city of Whittier, the air conditioning in both the CI and The Spot have been unreliable.
“It [the air conditioning] is still broken right now. I am still sweating. It works for a while and then it turns off and they keep putting work orders, and they keep coming and fixing it and saying it is fixed but…,” says Talavera. “I have to go out of my way to put ice to make sure the food is at the right temperature to be able to give it to the students and customers as well because sometimes adults from the community and the faculty come in here as well.”
According to Negotiation Chair and CI stalwart, Daisy Machado, Bon Appetit staff have been left with no response on if their demands will be met or if their contracts will be signed. They have not heard from their management company since April. “We have been sitting around, waiting for answers about the proposal and nobody say nothing. We feel like they [their management company] are playing with us. Like they do not care.”
The contract for the Bon Appetit staff expired in Oct. 2025, and with negotiations stalled since April of this year, many of the staff are left feeling uneasy about their future here and what is to come next. “I do not think anyone wants it to come to that [a strike], but we have done it before and we will do it again,” Machado shares.
In 2023, the Bon Appetit staff went on strike for 28 days, the longest in the Local 11 union history. Fighting for much of the same issues, higher wages, better contracts, and better working conditions. After the long days on the picket line, in April of that year, the Bon Appetit management company and staff reached an agreement, raising their pay by six dollars.
And the strike in 2023 was not the first of its kind for the Bon Appetit staff. In 2020, the staff went on strike to increase pay to meet the California minimum wage at the time, 12 dollars. As tensions rise, staff and union leaders look down the horizon at another possible strike. And as that becomes more and more of a possibility, the Bon Appetit staff and union are looking to the student body for support.
“Boycott! Definitely Boycott […] That is probably a big ask that we would be asking folks to do, but if the management of the CI are not respecting the negotiation then don’t bring your money there and spread awareness of what’s going on,” commented a CI cook who wishes to stay anonymous.
The Bon Appetit staff are not alone in their call for better working conditions. This week, the SEIU, one of the biggest unions in the country, distributed a poster asking for students and faculty to support the campus custodian staff in their request for wage increases to keep up with the cost of living.
The poster urges students and faculty to email leadership at Flagship, the company the College contracts with for custodial services, as well as leadership here at Whittier College. The poster includes emails and phone numbers specifically, Jose Figueroa at (650) 464-9464 or jfigueroa@ flagshipinc.com. Figueroa is in charge of SVP of Operations at Flagship.
Students can also contact the College’s administration: President Dillon at (562) 907- 4904 or president@whittier.edu and also Vice President, Chief Administrative Office, Cynthia Joseph at (562) 907-4830 or cjoseph@whittier.edu. Attempts to reach custodial staff for comment were unsuccessful.
This is not the first time SEIU has released a letter to address the poor working conditions and pay of the College custodians. In 2024, the Quaker Campus (QC) obtained a letter from the SEIU, “In 2016, the College made a decision to let go of a quarter of the cleaning staff, and what ended up happening because of this, was that tasks that were once done by three people (such as cleaning a dorm floor) are now expected to be completed by just one person.”
The letter also addressed concerns about pay, “It was not until after the state had raised the minimum wage to $16 that the company gave us their final offer. After five long years without receiving any salary increases from the company, they only offered to give us one dollar, placing us at $17.”
After the protest on Aug. 26, President Dillon said in an interview with the QC, “This is not unique to us, but they are not our employees. They are employed by organizations we have a contract with.”
Dillon adds, “Does it hurt our sense of community to have people unhappy with their employment? Yes, because they are here on our campus, these are people we care about. Are they using the visibility of being on our campus for the purposes of their union success? I think we have to admit that’s true.”
During the Aug. 2 6 demonstration, the President’s office released a statement to all students via email stating, “We recognize and respect the right of members of our community to express their views and engage in lawful labor activity. We also understand that members of our campus community may have questions about how the planned walkout could affect dining services and other campus operations. Dining Services is open and students, faculty and staff are welcome to enter.”
A recent survey conducted by the QC received 21 responses, it was used to collect student input on the Aug. 26 CI strike. The survey showed that 61.9 percent of respondents identify female, with 9.5 percent being non-binary and 28.6 being male. In regards to race and ethnicity, 66.7 percent of respondents identify as Hispanic and/or Latino, 9.5 percent as Black and/ or African-American, 19 percent as Asian and/or Pacific Islander, 4.8 percent as Native American, and 38.1 percent as White.
The survey was sent out the day of the protest and asked students their knowledge of past strikes as well as if they use the CI or The Spot. In addition, 90.5 percent of respondents were first-year students with only one second-year responder and one fourth-year responder.
In the survey, 90.5 percent of respondents said they use the dining services at the CI and only 47.6 percent of respondents said they use the dining services at The Spot. And only 85.7 percent of the respondents were aware of the protest on Aug. 26.
A first-year student who identifies as a Hispanic female comments, “They do the jobs others will not so they should be paid as such.” A fourth-year who identifies as an Indigenous female adds, “They are the backbone of Whittier College and deserve our ally-ship and solidarity.”
As of now, the Bon Appetit staff, the custodians, and their unions are still awaiting for a response from their respective management companies to see if their contracts will be renewed and if they will include their requests for a raise in pay, better pensions, healthcare, and better working conditions.