Olivia Debree ’01 asks for a concensus on a rally against Aramark to be held Wednesday at noon in Mocon.

By Jessica Chin
Editor in Chief

Approximately 45 students and dining service workers joined forces in a meeting Monday night to discuss Aramark’s decision to eliminate positions and reduce hours of many employees. The jobs in jeopardy were those of workers in MoConaughy Hall (MoCon), the Davenport Campus Center and Summerfields.

The meeting was a joint effort by the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC) and Local 217 of the Hotel Employee Restaurant Employee (HERE) union in order to stop the implementation of Aramark’s proposed changes. 

The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) joined the workers’ cause and addressed the situation at its meeting Sunday night. Nine workers were present at the meeting and voiced their concerns to the WSA. Seventeen employees appeared at USLAC’s meeting and spoke out about Aramark’s proposals.

"I just feel that Aramark is not justified in cutting the hours of their workers," said Irene Jackson, an employee at the campus center whose job will be eliminated. "It’s just more money for Aramark and, meanwhile, we’re not able to take care of our families. It’s going to be more money in our managers’ pockets."

According to a Nov. 10 memo from Director of Dining Services Sherwood Lincoln, Aramark will reduce the number of full-time employees from 59 to 55, and will decrease part-time
positions from 22 to 20 beginning Dec. 4, 2000. 

The memo informed employees of which positions would be eliminated and who would experience a reduction or addition of hours. Also, many employees were notified that their responsibilities and their job titles would soon be changed.

"The first thing that was wrong in this situation is that they [Aramark] simply posted a notice that told them [workers] that they were fired or demoted. They didn’t even talk to them beforehand about it," said Matt Fox ’03, the coordinator of the WSA.

While the memo provided for an increase in hours for some, the majority of employees will experience a significant decrease in hours once the schedule takes effect. 

According to the memo, Tricia Wade, who works at the Pan Geos stand at MoCon received a two hour increase each week. However, her colleague Marie Gibbons, who works at the salad bar, had her schedule reduced by 17.5 hours per week.

According to Fox, these changes will translate to reduced hours for Wesleyan students as well, many of whom are on work-study. Fox said a reduction in the number of employees working at various dining facilities will mean students will experience a lower level of service and food quality.

Fox said Aramark’s decision to cut workers’ hours and eliminate positions stems from a smaller frosh class. This year, the frosh class is approximately 50 students smaller, and Aramark generates less revenues from the mandatory meal plan than it has in past years.

"My concern is that these changes are indicative of the attitude that Aramark holds towards its employees and the Wesleyan community as a whole," Fox said. 

"By eliminating positions of both full-time employees and students at Wesleyan, by serving an increasing amount of pre-made and canned food and by decreasing the level of service, Aramark needs to be sent a message now because it will be too late if we wait," Fox added.

The proposed changes surfaced last Friday when food service stewards, who are workers that represent their colleagues, met with Aramark managers. The managers then notified stewards of the new schedule.

Many students express concern that Aramark’s decision, in addition to eliminating workers, will also mean that workers who stay on will have more job responsibilities than they have now, while receiving the same pay.

"They [Aramark] are combining job descriptions, firing people and cutting workers’ hours while maintaining the same amount of workload," Fox said. 

"It’s not only a matter of people losing their jobs or having their hours reduced, but workers are going to have to take other people’s jobs, which will bump everyone around and cause a lot of confusion," said Karen Weingarten ’02, a member of USLAC who helped coordinate the meeting.

According to Olivia DeBree ’01, who presided at the USLAC meeting, Aramark is prohibited from using non-union labor at the University, and instead will ship in non-union produced
food, such as pre-made sandwiches and sushi rather than keep all of the current workers.

"We’re going to boycott sushi because the worker who used to serve grinders was fired," DeBree said. "With sushi, they can ship it in and they don’t need a worker to prepare it, so it’s cheaper for them [Aramark]."

The goal of USLAC, HERE and the WSA is to stop Aramark from implementing the new schedules.

"We want the workers to be able to keep their health benefits and we want to offer Aramark and incentive not to cut anyone. We want to embarrass Aramark and hurt their reputation. We’ll do whatever it takes so that they will quit exploiting the workers," DeBree said.

In addition to boycotting sushi, USLAC plans to hand out leaflets on Tuesday and Wednesday that will inform students of their cause. In addition, a rally at MoCon at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 15, is planned.

"These are the first steps that we’re taking this week and we will be escalating measures if there isn’t any progress," DeBree said.

"These are issues that cannot be ignored because workers are losing their jobs, we’re being served inferior products all for the sake of the profit of a few," said Rob Wilcox ’01, the WSA senior representative.