The five workers also said employees are often near tears as they try to serve hundreds of meals quickly, standing in the heat for hours at a time under pressure from their bosses.
Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry said in his April 2 termination letter to Hicks that his dismissal was based on his "unacceptable performance and conduct as an employee." Berry, who has gained a reputation as the "mealtime messiah" for improving food quality for students, did not return a telephone call yesterday afternoon. Officials at the Freshman Union had referred all questions to Berry.
Many of the grievances brought by Hicks were rejected by dining services officials as unfounded, but Hicks won a lawsuit for back pay in an injury case.
Hicks said he is trying to get his job back through a union grievance procedure, and he said he has tried repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, to be transferred to other dining halls.
Hicks, 32, had worked in the Freshman Union for more than five years, and as a union steward for three years. He earned $504 a week until he was fired.
He lives in Arlington and said he has two children and a wife to support. He said he has previous experience at Friendly and International House of Pancakes, as well as being assistant manager at a movie theater and a chief's helper at Mass General Hospital.
The Harvard Radcliffe Labor Alliance, a student groups, has been talking with dining hall workers and is planning to meet with Berry and to start a position campaign in Hick's behalf.
"We thought it was wrong and we thought it was indicative of a greater problem." Labor Alliance leader Joshua L. Oppenheimer to said of the way Hicks was treated.
"I think it's anti-worker. I think it's humiliating. I think it's degrading I think it's dehumanizing. I think it's disgusting. I think it's a real tragedy, Oppenheimer said.
As for Hicks, he still has his pride, if not his job. Last month, he said, "I was a man when I walked in the door and I'm going to be a man when I leave. I'm not going to let them treat me like garbage," he said.
And yesterday, dressed in street clothes instead of his chief's whites, he was similarly confident. "They had no fight to terminate me and all it is was harassment," he said. "The only thing I've done wrong is fight for the rights of the employees."