At 54 Meadow: "We are the union... the mighty, mighty union!" Vereen: "I really didn't think it was going to take this long." After a full day of preparing students’ meals, John C. Daniels School lead cafeteria cook Latasha Vereen added a coat and scarf to her uniform and headed to the school district’s headquarters — to rally for a new contract and a living wage for public school food service workers.Vereen was one of more than 30 members and allies of hospitality workers union Unite Here Local 217 who showed up to protest outside of 54 Meadow St., the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) administrative headquarters, on Thursday afternoon. For an hour in 32-degree weather, which ​“felt like” 12 degrees thanks to strong winds, the group chanted phrases like ​“No contract, no peace!” At several moments, heavy winds blew picket signs and drums across the sidewalk, but the members didn’t budge. What started with 20 people outside the building at 2 p.m. ended with about 35 protestors within the hour. Some staffers working inside 54 Meadow watched the protestors from fifth- and sixth-floor windows. The buildings front doors were also locked while staffers gathered outside Thursday.This isn’t the first time Local 217 cafeteria workers have publicly demanded a fair contract amid negotiations with the district. In December, more than 60 members of Local 217 showed up to a Board of Education meeting wearing matching red shirts to share what a fair contract would mean to them. NHPS cafeteria workers described working two to three jobs to afford to live and raise families in New Haven, and the health difficulties they’ve faced in those circumstances.Vereen began her work day at 7 a.m. by preparing breakfasts for students at John C. Daniels. She then worked preparing lunch. At 1:45 p.m., she clocked out to head to 54 Meadow and join her colleagues. Vereen has worked for the district for a total of 16 years, and has spent the last five at the Hill middle school.She’s a single mother of four. Two of her kids are NHPS students, 15 and 17 years old.“I love my job. The kids love us. All we want is a fair contract,” Vereen said. ​“We just want to be treated as workers who really do work hard.”Every day, Vereen works full-time, ​“making sure the ship is running” in her school’s cafeteria. She said she never gets tired of it. Students’ smiling faces keep her motivated, she said, even through the recent frustrating months of advocating for a new contract that provides a living wage for her family.“It’s very important for me to have a good contract to keep my head above water,” she said. She has bills to pay and catch up on for her family, she added. If she can earn a livable wage, Vereen said she’d be able to provide her children with more access to activities as they get older. That’s what turned her out in the cold on Thursday. While still optimistic that she and her colleagues will soon have a fair contract, Vereen said, ​“I really didn’t think it was going to take this long. It’s a little bit frustrating and that’s why we’re out here doing what we do.”Local 217 Secretary/Treasurer Joshua Stanley told the Independent Thursday that the union had a productive discussion with the district this week as part of the ongoing negotiation process.“In many ways, we’re feeling coming off of December that there’s some positivity to be had here, and there’s some reason to think that we have a path together to reach a fair settlement,” Stanley said. ​“But at the same time, workers were hoping to actually have wages that kept up with the cost of inflation back in September, back in August.”Negotiations for the food service employees’ new contract began in April of 2024. The previous four-year contract expired at the end of June.Previously, the group’s goal was to have the contract settled with the district just in time for Christmas, to celebrate wage increases for the holiday. But because that didn’t happen, the new goal, Stanley said, is to receive increased wages in a new contract by Valentine’s Day. Thursday’s rally included Local 217 workers from NHPS and local universities as well as allied members from Locals 33, 34, 35, New Haven Rising and the school district’s teacher and paraprofessional unions. While members called for attention with drums and megaphones, they also chanted, ​“We are the union… the mighty, mighty union… fighting for justice… and a fair contract!”Stanley concluded Thursday’s rally by reminding the school district that the group will be back. “We need a fair contract now, and we want Dr. Negrón to think about trying to live for a year with what cafeteria workers take home in a year, and see what that’s like in the New Haven area,” Stanley said. Reached for comment in response to Thursday’s rally and demands, district spokesperson Justin Harmon stated, ​“The New Haven Board of Education values the important work of the food services workers who work in our school cafeterias, and it looks forward to a respectful and constructive negotiation with Local 217, UNITEHERE, AFL-CIO, to establish the terms of the successor collective bargaining agreement for its food service workers.”Meanwhile, 54 Meadow visitors are shut out as building's front entrance remains locked while rally goes on outside. Josh Stanley challenges Supt. Madeline Negrón to live off of cafeteria wages for a year.