Elizabeth Brooks

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 14 dated events in the chronology →

1. February 23 – March 21, 1969 UNC food workers' strike On February 23, 1969 food service workers at UNC's Lenoir Hall left their counters and sat down at the cafeteria tables, and by the next morning nearly 100 dining hall employees had refused to report for work. The strike ended on March 21 when the University agreed to raise the hourly minimum from $1.60 to $1.80, pay roughly $180,000 in back wages, and appoint a Black supervisor. People: Mary Smith, Elizabeth Brooks, J. Carlyle Sitterson, Robert W. Scott, Julius L. Chambers, Preston Dobbins Place: Chapel HillUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 25, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, March 22, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 2, 1976, p. 6; The Daily Tar Heel, April 29, 1982, p. 5; The Daily Tar Heel, February 22, 1985, p. 1
2. March 6, 1969 Striking food workers and University administrators hold their first talks On the day Lenoir Hall reopened under Highway Patrol guard, officers of the food workers' association, including vice president Elizabeth Brooks, met Vice Chancellor J. C. Eagles Jr. and Claiborne Jones for three and a half hours. The administrators agreed to three of the workers' grievances, among them addressing workers as Mr. or Mrs.; Brooks said the meeting accomplished nothing. People: Elizabeth Brooks Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. C. Eagles Jr., Claiborne JonesThe Daily Tar Heel, March 7, 1969, p. 1
3. March 18, 1969 Chancellor Sitterson relieves food service director George Prillaman of his duties Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson announced that George Prillaman, director of University Food Services, whose removal the strikers had demanded, was reassigned to help the auditor revise the food service's record keeping. Workers' leader Elizabeth Brooks said the move was no victory, and the same report said the state troopers had left the campus. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, Elizabeth Brooks Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: George PrillamanThe Daily Tar Heel, March 19, 1969, p. 1
4. March 19-21, 1969 Students and some faculty strike classes in support of the food workers At the striking food workers' request, a strike of classes began on March 19 with about 60 pickets at Saunders, Murphey and Bingham halls and about 200 people in Polk Place; the Daily Tar Heel said about 30 Chapel Hill High School students joined the first day. Turnout stayed small, though some faculty taught in Polk Place and strikers held 'liberation' classes on March 21. People: Elizabeth Brooks, Preston Dobbins Place: Polk Place, University, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill High SchoolThe Daily Tar Heel, March 20, 1969, p. 1
5. March 22, 1969 The striking food workers vote to go back to work, ending their month-long strike The food workers' bargaining committee announced that the workers had voted unanimously to accept the settlement reached between Governor Bob Scott and their attorney Julius Chambers: double back pay for unpaid overtime as federal law provided, six Black workers made supervisors, and 155 of about 175 workers upgraded. Lenoir Hall was back in full operation on March 24, though Chase Cafeteria stayed closed. People: Elizabeth Brooks, Robert W. Scott Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Julius Chambers, Ralph Scott, Bob Scott · Also mentions: Chase Cafeteria, Lenoir HallThe Daily Tar Heel, March 23, 1969, p. 1
6. October 24, 1969 Cafeteria workers' leaders press Saga's director to meet on a union Elizabeth Brooks and Mary Smith, officers of the temporary union UNC food service workers formed during the spring strike, met Saga director Ted Young and drew his promise of a meeting of all employees. When Young then said he would not debate unionization and put the meeting off, their Committee of Non-Academic Workers invited him to its session with an AFL-CIO organizer set for October 30. People: Elizabeth Brooks Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Mary Smith, Ted YoungThe Daily Tar Heel, October 26, 1969, p. 1
7. November 7 – December 9, 1969 UNC foodworkers strike a second time About 250 of UNC's 275 cafeteria workers, organized as the UNC Non-Academic Employees Union, struck SAGA Food Services on November 7, 1969 over pay, job reclassification, and the firing of workers for union activity. They voted on November 21 to affiliate with AFSCME, and the strike was settled in December after Ralph Abernathy visited the strikers and Black students from across the state threatened to converge on the campus. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, Mary Smith, Elizabeth Brooks Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Ralph AbernathyUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 8, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, November 9, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 2, 1976, p. 6
8. November 8, 1969 Mayor Howard Lee and Black community leaders back the striking cafeteria workers At a Saturday news conference Mayor Howard Lee, Howard Fuller of Malcolm X Liberation University in Durham, the Rev. John Manley of the Ministry Alliance of Chapel Hill and civic leader Ed Caldwell Jr. pledged their support to the SAGA strikers. Lee blamed the 'bad faith' of the food service operators and said he would not send town police onto the campus without a blatant reason. People: Howard N. Lee, Elizabeth Brooks Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Howard Fuller, John Manley, Ed Caldwell Jr.The Daily Tar Heel, November 9, 1969, p. 1
9. November 21, 1969 Striking SAGA cafeteria workers vote 94 to 26 to join AFSCME In the strike's third week the full-time SAGA food service workers marched from a noon rally at Wilson Library to the Student Union and voted 94 to 26 for representation by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. SAGA's regional director said mediation with the union would begin that weekend. People: Elizabeth Brooks Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Student Union, Wilson LibraryThe Daily Tar Heel, November 22, 1969, p. 1 (OCR text)
10. January 15, 1970 Mayor Howard Lee proclaims Martin Luther King Day in Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee proclaimed January 15, 1970, King's birthday, as Martin Luther King Day and asked residents to remember his work, though the town held no official functions. Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson, on a faculty committee's advice, turned down the food workers' union local's request to close the University for the day, saying it had no policy of holidays honoring great men. People: Howard N. Lee, J. Carlyle Sitterson, Elizabeth Brooks Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, January 15, 1970, p. 1
11. January 30, 1970 Saga Food Service gives notice it will leave UNC's dining halls Saga Food Service wrote the University that it would not renew its contract and would stop running the campus cafeterias on May 27, 1970, citing high labor costs and low patronage since the November strike. Union leaders called the notice a move to keep the workers from striking, while Saga's local manager said business had fallen by half. People: Elizabeth Brooks Place: Lenoir and Chase dining halls, UNC, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 8, 1970, p. 1
12. February 9, 1970 Chancellor Sitterson tells the cafeteria workers' union UNC will not renew Saga's contract Meeting with union representatives, Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson said the University would not sign another contract with Saga Food Service even if the company asked to stay, and would give laid-off Saga workers preference for University jobs when qualifications were equal. The non-academic workers had put off a strike vote at the Roberson Street Center the day before, and their leaders said they would not strike once he gave his answer in writing. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, Elizabeth Brooks Place: UNC, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 10, 1970, p. 1