After being threatened with layoffs, low-wage Capitol workers could get a lifeline

By Morgan Rimmer and Manu Raju, CNN

Senate cafeteria workers — who work long hours serving senators and staffers their meals on Capitol Hill — have been threatened with a round of layoffs, forcing Democratic lawmakers to scramble to help save the jobs of many struggling to make ends meet even as they walk the halls with some of the country’s most powerful politicians.

The contractor, Restaurant Associates, had informed dozens of low-paid, hourly workers that they no longer will have jobs in just a matter of days, according to multiple sources, with multiple estimates that the number is as high as 81.

But Democratic senators announced at a demonstration Wednesday afternoon that they have found the funds to stop the layoffs that had been set to begin next week, though the company has yet to confirm that no one will be let go.

“The money’s been found. Nobody needs to be laid off. We are in this together for every worker,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told the picketers, after she and Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, Alex Padilla of California and Jeff Merkley of Oregon met with the Architect of the Capitol earlier Wednesday afternoon.

A company spokesman said they are still awaiting “official word” that there is money to save the jobs, but said Restaurant Associates is “very encouraged” by the news.

“While we haven’t yet received official word from the Architect of the Capitol we’re very encouraged by this report and will continue to work collaboratively with UNITE HERE, the Senate and the Architect of the Capitol to support our employees,” said a Restaurants Associates spokesperson, referring to the labor union that workers recently joined.

But cafeteria workers have long complained their jobs continue to be threatened by the company, which has cited instability in the budget process, meaning any victory now could be short-lived.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who was also at the rally, laid out three steps members can take immediately to help Senate cafeteria workers: Check in each month with Restaurant Associates, and the Architect of the Capitol, work to reopen the building to more tourists and encourage their staff to buy lunch in the building rather than off the grounds.

“You were here on the front line. You were here in the cafeteria. You were here having to have schedules change and hours change and having to have your families at home,” Klobuchar said. “It was really hard. And you hung in there for us” throughout the pandemic.

Earlier Wednesday, Sen. Sherrod Brown and a number of his colleagues had said they were calling on Congress to provide adequate funding to help save those jobs, criticizing the company for the layoffs and alleging that it appears to be retaliating for the workers’ efforts to form a union.

“This is a private company that frankly doesn’t love the fact that they’ve organized a union,” Brown said. “I think that’s part of the problem from their viewpoint, but we will fight for those workers.” He added that they work “every bit as hard as any member of Congress and they should be treated with dignity.”

The Ohio Democrat has a history of working with Senate cafeteria employees. Notably, he advocated for a pay raise for them a few years back.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey agreed with Brown that the layoffs were related to the workers’ unionizing recently.

“I think that the company is, is jerking around,” he said. “It’s no coincidence to me. It’s suspicious to me that they’re — they haven’t done their new collective bargaining agreement, and that they’re trying to lay off all these workers right before then.”

Both Booker and Brown attended Thursday’s rally as well.

In the statement, the Restaurant Associates’ employee added: “We have no hostility toward the Union and have a positive working relationship with UNITE HERE at the Senate and CVC, as well as many other locations across the country. We deeply care about our employees will continue to work collaboratively with UNITE HERE, the Senate and the Architect of the Capitol to support them.”

The company would not specify the number of employees who are being laid off.

Brown recognized that closed restaurants on the Hill are contributing to the problem.

“We need to open this building up so that the public is here in larger numbers and can go to these restaurants. The revenues aren’t what we’d like them to be, what the company likes them to be,” he said.

While the union members are happy to have the senators’ support, Senate cafeteria employee Quentin Blackman noted, “I definitely want to see more actions than words. But it’s also ensuring to know that they’re there and they hear us, and they’re willing to put in some work as well, just as long as we put in our work and stuff.”

Anthony Thomas, an employee who has been very involved in the union’s fight to stave off layoffs, told CNN, “I know Cory Booker, I see him all the time, all the senators — I see them, they know me sometimes by face sometimes by name. And I feel like, you know, they, they treat us like normal people like I feel like the company should.”

He added, “I think they should be at the table with us during negotiations, really, because at the end of the day, we’re serving them. We’re serving a company but we’re also serving US senators from every state.”

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

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