5 things: Service worker strike averted at University of Minnesota

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Teamsters Local 320, the union representing 1,500 service workers at the University of Minnesota, has announced a three-year deal had been reached with the university to avert a looming strike, though the membership still has to vote its approval in the next two weeks. The union said the deal includes a $20/hour starting wage for all members, a provision for a minimum of 30 hours of work per week in the summer and "extended health care benefits," plus "market adjustments and cost-of-living increases" for members' wages.

Read more: Union representing 1,500 UMN service workers announces deal to avert strike

A letter signed by 32 member of Congress calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide soy milk to students as a way to bring equity to the school lunchroom by providing milk alternatives for lactose intolerant K-12 students, many of whom are people of color. Currently, students can only receive a milk alternative if they have a doctor’s note.

Related:5 things: Dodger Stadium, U.S. Senate foodservice workers win big raises in new labor contracts

Read more: Rep. Troy Carter wants to require dairy alternatives in school lunches

A new survey of roughly 82,000 students at nearly 200 community or technical colleges across the country found that about 30% said they had struggled to find enough food to eat in the past 30 days. The findings from the Center for Community College Student Engagement, a research institute at the University of Texas in Austin, comes at a time when community college enrollment has fallen steeply, losing about 827,000 students from the some 5 million enrolled in spring 2020, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.

Read more: Eat or pay tuition? Many community college students are forced to choose. But colleges can help.

Sbisa Dining Hall at Texas A&M University is the first university dining hall in the state to become a 3-Star Certified Green Restaurant, according to an announcement by Aggie Dining, which had partnered with the Green Restaurant Association to implement 39 environmental steps that focus on reduction in energy consumption, water usage, waste and use of chemicals. The largest dining facility at Texas A&M and one of the largest in the country, Sbisa also has a full-scale recycling and composting program, and it sends its grease to FiltaFry and Restaurant Technologies, both of which recycle used cooking oil for biodiesel.

Related:5 tech things: More self-checkout, other high tech coming to NBA/NHL arenas

Read more: Texas A&M Dining Hall Recognized For Green Practices

Heathrow Airport in London has announced that it will provide airport colleagues with free access to hot meals every day, to be served throughout the winter months by Heathrow catering partner Eurest, a unit of Compass Group. “We know the increase in the cost of living is on the minds of many of our colleagues, which is why Heathrow is considering what we can do to further support staff through these uncertain economic times,” commented Retail Director Fraser Brown.

Read more: Heathrow Airport partners with Eurest to offer free staff meals

Bonus: A gallery of kid-friendly selections from the new Chartwells Smoothie Station concept

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]