Bucknell University seeking new food service contract
Apr. 4—LEWISBURG — Nearly 200 workers will be affected as Bucknell University seeks a new contract for food service.
Parkhurst Dining LLC issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) on the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry's website on Wednesday indicating the contract ending could affect 196 workers, who are not employed by the university. The contract with Parkhurst ends on June 30.
"Bucknell is in the process of contracting with a new dining vendor and the current vendor, Parkhurst Dining, is not one of the finalists," University spokesman Mike Ferlazzo said. "We will be discussing the transition of Parkhurst employees to the new vendor once selected and anticipate that they will continue to work in Bucknell dining facilities."
The WARN Act helps ensure advance notice in cases of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs. It requires a 60-day notice in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the state dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government.
"This all is pretty typical in the dining industry when a dining vendor changes at a college or university," said Ferlazzo.
A media relations representative of Parkhurst did not return an email seeking comment on Thursday.
Parkhurst Dining, founded in 1996, is the contract dining division of the award-winning Eat'n Park Hospitality Group, with a home base in Pittsburgh.
