Pawtucket school lunch workers claim 'decisive victory

PAWTUCKET – The Pawtucket school lunch workers say they've achieved "a decisive victory for all women who feed the kids and the fight for equal pay" after agreeing to a new contract with food service provider Aramark.

The pay gap for local lunch workers, all women, will "dramatically shrink" as they receive $1.20 in raises over three years," said the workers in a release.

"After these lunch workers courageously called attention to this national problem, Aramark Educational Services and the city of Pawtucket demonstrated that they wanted to be leaders in solving this problem," states the release.

The agreement, a new three-year deal covering the 81 school lunch employees, was reached Thursday afternoon in an effort to prevent a one-day strike the school lunch workers had planned for Friday. School officials were planning to treat Friday like a snow day if the strike went forward. The Breeze reported earlier Thursday that the lunch workers struck a tentative deal with Aramark on Monday.

Read more: http://www.valleybreeze.com/2016-09-22/pawtucket/pawtucket-school-lunch-workers-claim-decisive-victory