With the support of the BSM and other students, the dining hall workers went on strike, starting February 23, For several months, tensions rose as little headway was made with campus administration, while more and more joined in supporting the strikers, including increasing numbers of staff, faculty, and community members.
Opponents of not only the strike, but also the Black Student Movement as an organization, became increasingly vocal, putting pressure on Chancellor J. Scott, to control the situation. Reportedly fearing a large outbreak of violence, Governor Scott asked the North Carolina National Guard to stand by in Durham in case they were needed on campus.
The Guard was never called in, although police units like the NC Highway Patrol were bussed to campus. The strike ended in late March when the food workers' lawyer Julius Chambers and the governor reached an agreement that would raise wages for the university's lowest-paid employees. However, tensions continued to simmer over the summer of after management of food services was transferred to an outside vendor called SAGA Food Service. Discontent mounted with six employees fired in November , after which the food service workers went on strike again.
Forcing negotiations with the new union they formed, food service employees agreed to a strike settlement on December 9, Archival materials are an excellent resource for researchers interested in the campus food workers' strike. The following are just a few examples of the archival resources that can be found on this subject. Many primary sources can be found across our archival collections by searching our Finding Aids with terms such as "food service" and "food service workers strike.
This short 16mm film shows NC Highway Patrol being dropped off by busses and positioning in front of Lenoir Cafeteria. Digitized at Internet Archive. This collection contains administrative records documenting the strike, the activities of the Black Student Movement, and the actions taken by the administration in the hopes of ending the strike. Friday Records, This collection contains records kept by top University administrators related to a number of important events at UNC-Chapel Hill including the strike of campus food workers in The respondents include food workers, members of the Black Student Movement, members of the Southern Student Organizing Committee, and other students, mediators, lawyers, faculty members, and university officials.
