Eighty-five workers in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's dining halls went back to work yesterday, ending a three-week strike against MIT--but they still don't have a new contract.
The workers, members of Local 184 of the Cooks and Pastry Cooks Association, voted in a meeting Thursday morning to go back to work. The union leadership and MIT will continue to negotiate a new contract.
The cooks' move is unusual--while their strike was on they had an excellent bargaining position because they had closed down all but one student dining hall. They seem to have lost that leverage now.
On the other hand, the union could be expecting to get a contract similar to the one MIT hammered out this week with representatives of 880 striking maintenance and custodial workers. MIT has been offering the two groups of striking workers near-identical contracts, and the cooks may like the one the maintenance workers accepted.
Joseph Stefani, chief bargainer for the cook's union, was out of town yesterday afternoon and unavailable for comment. MIT officials would not speculate on the reasons behind the cooks' move.
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