Union members working on the Riverdale Campus of Manhattan College will vote Monday on a tentative contract settlement reached this afternoon. The workers are members of Local 840 of the Teamsters. The employer is the service contractor Sodexho Marriott Services. The new pact will provide fully paid family health insurance for the first time. It also will provide Martin Luther King's birthday as paid holiday and wage increases averaging 3.5.percent each year of the four year contract.

The Union members had pressed their health care demands in a public campaign over the last month. They demonstrated weekly outside the Riverdale campus, gathered signatures on petitions supporting their cause, passed out thousands of leaflets and lined up the support of other Unions.

The Union bargaining committee expressed relief that they were able to finally see eye to eye with their employer after five months of talks. They expressed confidence that the general membership would follow their recommendation to accept the new contract in a vote set for Monday March 1st.

For Further Information Contact: Joel LeFevre, Secretary Treasurer

212-292-4840, 917-603-3616