Twenty food service workers at Princeton Pubic Schools (PPS) went on strike last Thursday to highlight their dispute with Nutri-Serve Food Management, the company hired by the school district in June to manage its food service program.

The 20 are members of the SEIU, the Service Employees International Union. The union’s mission is “to raise standards at work and improve conditions in our communities so that one day ‘working poor’ will be a contradiction in terms.” It represents cleaners, property maintenance workers, doormen, security officers, window cleaners, building engineers, and school and food service workers, as well as railroad and factory workers.

Many of the school cafeteria workers make in the region of $9 an hour and have been serving food to Princeton’s school children for more than a decade.

The district had been warned of the possibility of a strike at the November 18 public meeting of the PPS Board of Education (BOE) when several food service workers appealed to Superintendent Stephen Cochrane and members of the Board for help in making their case to Nutri-Serve. At that time, Board member Patrick Sullivan said that since the Board is not party to the contract between Nutri-Serve and its employees, “there is nothing that the Board of Education can lawfully do to influence the talks between those parties.”

After the BOE unanimously approved a $61,245 food service contract with Nutri-Serve Food Management, Inc. for the 2014-15 school year, existing cafeteria staff were offered jobs with the new contractor, which replaced Chartwells School Dining Services. Chartwells had been serving Princeton’s schools for the previous 15 years. The change had been lauded on health grounds. Nutri-Serve serves more than 80 other school districts in New Jersey.

The company has said that cuts are necessary because of rising costs. It has eliminated paid holidays, paid sick days, paid time off for jury duty, and has cut planned wage increases in half. Employees found out about the changes when they didn’t get paid for the Labor Day holiday. It became clear that their existing 2013-16 contract would not be honored by the new employer.

The workers also claim that the new company has cut the number of uniforms provided to them from six to two.

According to the union, however, it is customary for a new employer to honor the terms of an existing contract until a new contract is negotiated.

SEIU 32BJ union spokesperson, Ana Maria Cruz, said that the workers are due to meet with Nutri-Serve representatives at the Princeton Public Library tomorrow, December 17, at 3 p.m.

During their strike, the cafeteria workers picketed outside Princeton High School as snow fell. They protested changing terms of employment by Nutri-Serve. They accused their employer of not informing them of changes in their working conditions or terms. According to their union, it is unfair for a new contractor to take over without telling workers of changes or negotiating in good faith with the union. Several schools were unable to serve breakfast because of the strike. The strikers returned to work Friday.

According to Schools Superintendent Steve Cochrane, during the one-day strike, Nutri-Serve “brought in their management team along with additional workers to prepare and serve meals according to the established menu. As I understand it, the food service workers then voted to return to work. I am hopeful that any outstanding issues between the union and Nutri-Serve will be resolved in their next negotiations session.”

A request for comment from Town Topics to Nutri-Serve via Food Service Director Joel Rosa elicited this response: “Unfortunately, Nutri-Serve is not accepting any interviews on the subject matter at this time. Perhaps after the negotiations have been settled, our company will be more open to answer your questions.”