The Strike Of Foodservice Workers At Unc Chapel Hill

The 1969 strike of foodservice workers at UNC Chapel Hill was a labor dispute involving lunch ladies, less than 20 women of color, working in a college cafeteria serving the large student population. This unlikely group of women and their labor dispute had a much more important effect on the larger perspective of not only work conditions and wages for women and African Americans, but the macro level of civil rights on college campuses in the south during the civil rights movement. The efforts of the women and Black Student Movement to fight for fair pay, We will also look at the impact this labor dispute had for not only the college campus but also the entire state of North Carolina and the nation at large. Not only geographically, we will also examine the effect this foodservice strike has had on the fast food industry presently and labor relations for the â€Å"Fight for 15† movement. The Lenoir Dining Hall at UNC Chapel Hill served food to some 1700 students and faculty a d ay. The lunch ladies managing the cafeteria worked through long hours, short wages and degrading work conditions. Food service was tough enough for college lunch ladies because students and faculty did not typically regard the non-faculty employees with much respect or recognition. This lack of respect or recognition was amplified by high racial tensions of the civil rights era and the reality that most non-faculty employees were African American. Not only were the work conditions underappreciated by the