USC workers reach agreement

The UNITE HERE Local 11 Union announced they had reached a tentative contract agreement with the USC administration on Mar. 6. The union represents USC Hospitality and Auxiliary workers.

The agreement has to be ratified by workers before it will take effect, per communications representative Ofelia Carrillo. A vote will take place all day Thursday and parts of Friday, and the count will take place the evening of the latter.

This resolution will come after a series of rallies and protests supported by the Local 11 union and the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation (SCALE), which both seek to raise USC workers’ low wages and allocate full time hours. The most recent of these demonstrations mobilized hundreds around Tommy Trojan on Feb. 5. The rally followed the posting of a YouTube video that showed a USC worker confronting President C. L. Max Nikias about low wages.

According to the union campaign, “Let’s Raise SC!” the average USC worker earns $18,800 a year. USC has not confirmed that number. Workers have expressed that the rising cost of living in L.A. has forced them to live in high-crime neighborhoods, face the threat of homelessness and prevented them from purchasing basic necessities.

UPDATE: This post was updated to include information that the agreement would be voted on by hospitality workers at the end of the week.