While some students may overlook the hustle and bustle that commonly occurs at O’Donovan Hall, it is important that members of the Georgetown community show solidarity with the workers of Leo’s in their fight to re-negotiate a contract with Aramark, Georgetown’s dining services contractor.

Last week, the workers organized in order to present their demands to the kitchen manager of Aramark in response to the dining services contractor’s refusal to provide several important employee benefits.

The workers’ demands included a 40-hour workweek to allow them to be full time, the protection of immigrant workers, affordable healthcare benefits, better job protections and fresh, sustainable food for the dining hall.

The workers have been met with support by a number of Georgetown University students who have signed an online petition marked “Equality at Georgetown” and rallied in support of the cause this past Friday.

Although Aramark has provided these benefits at other universities and campuses in Washington, D.C., like American University, the company has not yet provided the Georgetown University workers with these benefits.
Thus, we urge students to stand in solidarity with the workers who are dedicated to providing us with the essentials we consume and yet usually underappreciate at Leo’s.

It is imperative that students become aware of their plight and support possible further protests, which workers may be forced to consider if Aramark does not move forward to make their demands a reality.

Students should additionally take the time to sign the online petition, which implores the Georgetown community to call upon Aramark to stop treating the university’s service workers as second-class citizens.

In order to show both Aramark and Georgetown University that, as students, we demand better, especially when it comes to treatment of university employees, students need to put in the effort and live up to the ideals the university professes to maintain.