Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: September 16, 2007

WSA Officers

President: Matt Ball

Vice President: Emily Malkin

Coordinator: Izaak Orlansky

Treasurer: Gianna Palmer

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Fight Song
2. Roll Call
3. Internal Elections (closed meeting)
4. Open Forum
5. Agenda Item I: Bon Appetit Labor Issues
    - Presentation from Dining Workers and Union Stewards Raquel Adorno, Sue Silvestro and Sandy Baik
    - Questions for Workers from the Community
    - Discussion On the Issue
6. Committee Reports
7. New Business and Announcements

Opening of Meeting: 5:35 pm

Attached Documents: Committee Reports

Fight Song

Two members of the Wesleyan Spirits (Owen Bennion and Justin Alan Bours) taught the Assembly the Wesleyan Fight Song

Roll Call (5:42pm)

5:43 President (Matt Ball�08) gives overview of agenda for the night, explains the procedures for the meeting.

5:46 Izaak Orlansky explains ROR and WSA structure, emphasizing attendance. You must be at all meetings,

5:48 Introductions

5:51: Motion to close meeting for Internal Elections - motion passed

Part II of Meeting called to Order (7:07)

Open Forum (7:07)

No non-WSA members raised anything at open forum.

Agenda Item I: Bon Appetit Labor Issues (7:08)

7:08 Matt welcomes everyone, thanks everyone for coming. Explains the format of the meeting to the assembly. Says that this meeting is about getting facts out there. Introduces Sue Silvestro and other Union reps.

Sue Silvestro: VP of Local 217, works at Pi. Has been working there for many years. Introduces two other workers who are presenting with her.

Sandy Baik: lost her benefits after being here for 7 years because Bon Appetit cut her hours, and gave the additional hours that she used to work (Sunday nights) to a new member

Raquel Adorno: apologizes for the chaos of moving to Usdan. Encourages students not to boycott the center, says that this is the student�s place.

Sue: says that the employees worked for all summer to try to make the transition to the Usdan as easy possible, says that the transition was made difficult by a number things

Stack:

Marjorie: would like to know what their previous experience with Aramark last year were like. Sandy says that there was no operational change where she works (Weshop) other than that her hours were cut. Says that Delmar Crim just decided to cut hours.

Candace what type of input the staff got in shaping the transition to BA. Sue says that they sat down with Bon Appetit and helped with scheduling, and Sue says that all the workers thought from the beginning that there was understaffing at Usdan.

Jessie wonders if other people were affected other Sandy, says she knows someone who worked at Weshop who benefited from the move to Usdan. Raquelle says that different people were affected by different things.

Lucas asks whether Bon Appetit was helpful in training over the summer. Raquelle says that no, it was a chaotic mess at the beginning. Trainers were brought in, but it took awhile for things to get settled. Raquelle says that when Bon Appetit was brought in, they put aside differences.

Mike asks whether anyone else lost benefits. No, Sue says. Also asks about sushi. Sue says that sushi on campus is a great thing, but that the sushi workers should be unionized.

Jen asks how easy it�s been for workers with grievances to work with bon appetit. Raquelle says that it�s very different now because now it�s only Delmar working with the workers.

Becky asks about sushi issues. Becky says that she�s heard from some workers that the workers don�t want benefits, they want to make more money to send money back to their families. Raquelle says that that�s true, but they should still make the same amount of money as everyone else. Bon Appetit is part of a huge corporation (Compass) that has a lot of money.

Lauren asks Sue to name their top three or five concerns so that we can process the info and pass it on to Delmar. Sue says one of their top priorities is to get Sandy�s benefits back. Also a priority to get the sushi people benefits. Also wants Delmar to get over the fact that they make good wages and have good benefits. Said that they�ve worked hard over the past few twenty years.

JZ asks if the sushi people have asked about the union. Raquelle says that they have been interested in the union. Yields rest of time to Lauren.

Lauren asks if there�s anything else that they need to pass onto Delmar. Raquelle says that Usdan is super understaffed. Delmar�s responsive is that he needs authorization from higher up.

Matt asks about 40 hour week that was reduced because lunch breaks are no longer paid. Also asks about grievance process. Raquelle says that union stewards report violations to Delmar. If Delmar doesn�t deal with it, then it gets written up and the union rep comes in and talks things out with Delmar. It can eventually go all the way up to a Compass corporate lawyer and then goes up to National Labor Board. Bon Appetit requires them to punch out for a full � hour.

Micah says that there seems to be three parties in this debate: workers, corporation, and the students. Micah says that there needs to be compromise. Asks what type of compromise the workers had in mind in order to make things work. Raquelle says that Bon Appetit needs to honor their contract. Says that there are tons of contract violations. Says that the management needs to respect the contract and the management is not used to working with worker�s with contracts. Sue says that Bon Appetit is known for union busting and that they just chose to ignore their contract.

AJ asks specifics of contract violation. Sue says that if she points to Sandy, they can�t just cut her hours without specific reasons. Says that Delmar shouldn�t just be cooking downstairs, that�s not his job.

Charlie asks Sandy about cutting hours. You need 20 hours to get benefits. There are three jobs in Usdan alone that are 19.75

Liana thanks the workers for coming it, says that there are lot of students who are interested, wonders how students can help and become more aware. Sue thanks the WSA for having us, and says that the WSA this year is more open and aware. Says that just listening is really helpful, says to critically asks Delmar about his own contract and Bon Appetit�s own contract at Wesleyan.

Becky encourages non-WSA to speak. Asks Sandy about the bidding process. Says that she never rebid, just that her hours were cut suddenly. She could technically rebid, but she already had a job.

Ezra from the Argus looked over the job contracts. Asks about working conditions at Usdan and about under the tablemoney with sushi people. Sue says that bon appetit�s job descriptions that were given to the people were very strange and had very weird things in it. Eli yields time to Ezra. Sue yields to Irene. Irene says that she says delivery man give cash to the sushi people.

Eli asks about objections to 40 hour weeks and asks how many part-time jobs were created. Raquelle says there was a total of 36 new hires. No new hires are benefit level positions.

JZ says he heard that some benefits like overtime were being given arbitrarily. Asks if they think that there biasing union workers. Raquelle says that that might be part of that, but they are also just dramatically understaffed. Bon Appetit just takes people off of things dishwashing and puts them on Mongolian grill.

Jake says that maybe we should refrain from calling them the �sushi people.� Asks what the WSA can do. Raquelle says that a union arbitrator would say that the sushi workers need to be unionized because Wesleyan dining is a closed shop. Jessie yields time. Sue says that sub-contracting on other campus happens, but the sub-contracting workers join the union.

Jessie asks if they know anyone who worked for Aramark who aren�t working this year. Also asks about what happened in Stanford in 2002. Sue says that they heard from students about worker issues with Bon Appetit at other schools. Sue said that she sat on the dining committee.

Charlie yields time to Alex.

Alex asks what reason Delmar gave to Sandy for cutting her hours. Sandy says that she hasn�t been given a reason for cutting her hours from Delmar.

Saul talks about Summerfields: says that there aren�t nearly as many student workers on campus. Sue says that it�s very important that there are student workers. Raquelle says that the reason why there aren�t that many workers is because Bon Appetit is so disorganized. Another worker (Michael Misenti) says that there are still a lot of student worker positions open.

AJ asks if the WSA could get a copy of the labor agreements with Bon Appetit. Yes. Has anything gotten better? No.

Lizzie from USLAC talks about petition that USLAC is trying to get people to sign. The petition is geared toward the administration because everyone should get fair wages. Also asks about general working conditions. Sue says that there was an accident in the kitchen with a worker getting a very bad burn on his foot. Raquelle says that the Usdan kitchen space was very poorly designed.

Aaron Freedman says that under Aramark work weeks were M-F (so people could work a second job during the weekend), but under Bon Appetit, the work week is T-F. This is true, according to Raquelle. The reason why (according to Delmar) is because continuity and consistency on weekends. Jim says that there is no effort for there to be continuity in other food services other than workers.

Matt says that there are still student worker jobs available with Bon Appetit. Matt says he went back to old Argus issues to read about union stuff. Says that there have been problems b/w union and aramark. Raquelle says that this is primarily the nature of the beast with unions and corporation. Sue said that they had a lot of problems with Aramark, but they worked hard to move forward with them. Said that they worked hard with Marcia Bromberg before she left and that Marcia really cared about workers.

�Subcontracting in a union shop equals death� according to Raquelle.

Bradley asks what the status is with the arbitration and asks if the sushi workers joined the union, would they be making more money. Raquelle says that no one knows how much money the sushi workers have made. Sue says that they will go to the National Labor Board if things are not resolved.

Ezra says that Len (the Union Rep) asks about what the role of the Wesleyan administration is. Sue says that Wesleyan does play a large part in this, but that Wesleyan is somewhat hand-off. Says that Peter Patton has been helped and that Rick has been helpful.

Discussion:

Becky just clears things up: the reason why sushi workers were hired from the outside was because it was a highly specialized skill. By bringing in the sushi workers, no one lost jobs.

Dean Rick says that last year he was part of a group that went through the bid process. The entire bid process was really outlined by the WSA and students and staff were heavily involved in the entire bidding process. Said that they made it very clear to all corporations who submitted proposals that Wesleyan was a union place.

Sam said that on the position of Sandy�s hour: Sandy should get her hours back. The sushi worker issue is much more nuanced. Said that it might not be economically feasible for sushi workers to be unionized. Yields time to Becky. Said that she�s heard that the sushi workers would rather make money than be unionized. Lauren says that they have no idea how much sushi workers are being paid.

Alan says that he�s heard that janitors are not allowed to eat in the new campus center. Also wanted to comment on code of conduct committee that he sat on, along with other USLAC members.

Elyssa thanks the workers for coming in. says she was struck by a comment made by Raquelle about how students should not boycott the campus center that it will workers more. Raquelle responds by saying that a boycott isn�t a good idea; students need to take the campus center back and make it their own.

Lauren says that the whole thing is a very complicated concerns.

Alexis from USLAC and said she was really concerned about the idea of the petition and boycotting but has talked with a lot of workers. Alexis said that it�s really dangerous precedent to start sub-contracting.

Raquelle says that being part of union is more than just about payment. It�s about rights.

Candace says that people are avoiding the usdan partially because the space is so poorly designed. Says that there are number of simple things that can be done in order to use the space more effective. Says that seating is going to be a big issue once winter gets here. Says that Delmar is in over his head.

Alex says that it should be a priority for us to get very concrete and real information. Ezra says he tried to get in contact with the manager of AFC. Raquelle just wanted to feed off what Alan said; she said she was told that janitors can�t eat in the dining area. When janitors take breaks they can�t be visible. Aramark used to give discounts and free beverages to the janitors. When Raquelle asked Delmar about it, he said that he couldn�t do it.

JZ wanted to speak about the boycott. Says that the problems that are spurring the boycott are indicative of a larger problem which is organization of Bon Appetit. Raquelle says the flow of the building doesn�t work very well.

Jessie says that she doesn�t think that a lot of upperclassmen. Yields to dean rick�..there are 615 seats on second floor, 100 on first floor.

Howie wants to make it clear that USLAC is not involved in the boycott at all. Wants to talk about sushi workers.

Mike said that he heard that the boycott was in regard to high prices, not labor issues. We need to separate the labor issues from the boycott.

Dean Rick says that there will be a better option for grab and go at the Caf� by the end of October.

Committee Reports

Highlights

Community Outreach Committee (COCo) finished allocating office spaces in 190 High to student groups. The University Organizing Center will monitor the building during office hours in exchange for space, so we don�t have to hire somebody.
Finance and Facilities Committee (FiFaC)�s first Dining Committee meeting showed much promise for lower prices, better vegan options, and general improvement of dining.
Organization and External Affairs (OEAC) ran a successful elections week and made some key contacts with the Argus.
Student Affairs Committee (SAC)
1. Worked with Residential Life teeeo put the new card access policy into effect
2. Received insurances from Fire Safety that inspections and fines will not begin until the appeals process is in place.
3. Ensured that the proposed party registration policy of 25-people or more is NOT enforced until it is further discussed.
Student Budget Committee (SBC) will introduce a new online system for allocation requests up and running by early next week. This automated system will be accesible through all students' e-portfolios.

Community Outreach Committee (COCo)

Office spaces in 190 High are now allocated to:

Previously was	Now is
Lisa�s old office	8 to 8
Old SBC room	WesESL
CoCo room	Student meeting space

Getting ready for:

Mandatory meeting for student group leaders = Monday @ 5PM

-making a powerpoint, meeting with Tim and Nicole

Group recognitions = Tuesday @ 4:30-7:30PM, Wednesday @ 6-9PM

WesTV:

Tabled at the Student Activities Fair for WesTV, which is technically now a student group with WSA ties because it requires more manpower than the WSA has time/resources to maintain as a purely WSA initiative. We got a really positive response, and will hold a meeting next week for interested students. The conception of a student group will also help get plans for a TV Programming Student Forum underway in time for the spring semester deadline.

Campus Climate Log Committee:

Met on Tuesday with the Campus Climate Log Committee, talked about what constitutes as �hate,� and what should be reported on log. The next meeting is Oct. 9, but the WSA rep should probably be a member of SLC/SAC rather than COCo, as the scope of the committee isn�t really in COCo�s domain.

Public Safety Advisory Committee:

Still trying to line up two non-WSA members for PSAC, will definitely have a meeting next week with Dave and two new COCo members to talk about what�s ahead for PSAC.

Student Resource Guide:

The Student Resource Guide is finished! It�s up to date with the opening of the Usdan Center and the resources that it offers, and includes a new Faculty Resource Guide, and guidelines on booking the Center for Film Studies for student presentations, offered for the first time this year

Educational Policy Committee (EPC)

The EPC was not active this summer, and so there is nothing to report for this week.

Finances and Facilities Committee (FiFaC)

Dining:

SAC chair Mike Pernick and I have had individual meetings with members of the administration (Dean Rick) and USLAC. This week marked our first Dining Committee meeting, at which we addressed many of our concerns to Dean Rick and Bon Appetit staff, including Delmar Crim, Bon Appetit General Manager. We expressed concerns over the high prices, long lines, insufficient vegan options, and poor labeling, as well as many other smaller issues. Bon Appetit responded well, and in the coming weeks we will see if they enact these necessary big changes. Also addressed were specific suggestions including getting a microwave for Summerfields, updating online menus, and propping open the doors from the Marketplace into the eating areas.

Major maintenance:

Major Maintenance had its first meeting at which projects old and new were reviewed. If you think there are any places on campus that need desperate attention, let me know or contact rsillasen@wes.

New Molecular & Life Science Building

Molecular & Life Science Committee held an info session for professors from all over campus, unfortunately with a small turnout. It is almost definite that Shanklin will be torn down to make room for the new science complex.

Possible New Usdan committee

The Campus & Facility Services Advisory Committee (CAFSAC) is being abandoned due to a lack of need for it. Instead it will likely be replaced with a new Usdan Advisory Committee.

Shuttle service to New Havene

Campus shuttle service to New Haven will begin next Friday, Sept. 21. Unfortunately costs had to be raised to $15 each way after last year�s trial run failed to make back the costs of operating the shuttle. Reservations must now be made at the Usdan Box Office or at the Office of Transportation. In the coming months we will reevaluate the shuttle to see if there�s a way to bring costs down.

Sustainability at Wesleyan

The Sustainability Committee had its first meeting of the semester. They are currently planning a sustainability report card website that will show how well Wesleyan is doing in various areas of environmental concern. A website containing stats for 100 institutions (including our peer group) shows Wesleyan at the top of the list for energy use. Awesome! On January 28, Wesleyan will participate in the teach-in on Climate Change. In addition, Wes will soon be testing its first electric truck, to be used for trash collecting.

Organization and External Affairs Committee (OEAC)

Elections

We had a smooth elections week, electing:

8 Frosh Reps

8 At-Large Reps

Robert Alvarez

AJ Chan

Darien Combs

Micah Feiring

Jennifer Lebschutz

Fludiona Naka

Samantha Pop

Marjorie Rivera

fall

Saul Carlin

Alec Coquin

Charlotte Hastings

Lucas Hidalgo

Charles Kurose

Allison Quantz

Jessie Schiewe

Liana Woskie

fall

Voter turnout: Compared to the same election last year, participation was slightly lower for the frosh election and about the same for the at-large election.

Appoinments

The following positions will be decided by appointment this week.

- SBC � 2 semester-long positions available

- Junior reps � 3 year-long appointments available

Public Affairs: Argus Relations and News Updates

Matt Ball and Emily Malkin met with the Argus editors. The Argus has assigned a beat writer to cover WSA meetings. They will be making a presentation next Sunday. The website will also be publishing �news updates� when important meetings occur during the week that the student body should be made aware of.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees met last weekend. Emily Malkin will deliver a report on the retreaet next Sunday.

Student Affairs Committee (SAC)

New Card Access Policy

After extensive discussion last year in the Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC), the committee agreed on a new card access policy for this year. The policy allows residents of any card access dorm to grant access to that dorm to up to 3 other students. The new policy is designed to allow dorm access for close friends, siblings, and significant others.

Day of the week	Hours of access
Sunday-Wednesday	10:00am � 12am
Thursday-Saturday	10:00am � 8pm

Fire Safety Fines Reform

Last year, progress was made with regards to fire safety and facilities fines. Among the reforms agreed upon last year is a new Appeals Board which will allow any student who received a fine to appeal that fine. Barbara Spalding of Fire Safety has assured that Fire Safety will not start to issue fines until the Appeals Board is in place and an appeals process is listed on the fire safety website.

Party Policy

At the end of last year, a change was proposed to the party registration policy.

Old policy

no woodframes (max. occupancy 49) would have to register

Proposed policy

woodframes would have to register big parties

However, Matt Ball, Emily Malkin, and Mike Pernick met with Dean Rick and Tim Shiner last year, and they agreed to postpone enforcement of this new policy until it can be readdressed in the Student Life Committee. However, several Public Safety officers were mistakenly under the impression that the new policy is in effect. After hearing about this, Dean Mike was notified of the problem and the issue has been corrected. The proposed policy will be discussed at the first SLC meeting, and all relevant groups (DOC, P-safe, etc) should now be aware that the policy is not in effect.

WSA representation on WesWELL committees

Mike Pernick met with Lisa Currie, the Director of Health Education for WesWELL. The following committes will now have WSA representation:

Committee	Who Will Sit
Student Health Advisory Committee	1 WSA rep
Alcohol and Other Drugs Core Committee	SAC chair
-Assessment Subcommittee -Policy & Enforcement Subcommittee -Education Subcommittee -Environmental Strategies Subcommittee	SAC member SAC member SAC member SAC member

See FiFAC report for progress on dining.

Student Budget Committee (SBC)

SBC Goes Online

On Tuesday and Thursday Gianna met with Barbara Spadaccini of ITS to

finalize details about the automated system.

Initial Allocation Meetings

SBC has been arranging initial allocation meetings for student groups such

as the Crowell Concert Series who will need their budget allocated for

entire year at this time.

Initial Allocation Meetings

SBC will have its busiest week of the year starting Monday with the

Mandatory Student group meeting in Science Center 150, and will continue

with initial allocations for the rest of the week, which will start

Tuesday in Usdan 104 at 4:15.

Stack:

Alex: says that we should anticipate people running out of points at the end of the semester. Mike says that he and Becky met with Dean Rick and that he reassured that there would be ok.

Allison: says Saturday brunch is all you can eat, but you have to pay with points. Sunday brunch is all you can eat, but you can pay with a meal.

Becky says she is horrified by the idea that janitors are told that they can�t be seen.

Meligly says that she thinks that students might not want to work for Bon Appetit.

JZ asks for clarification about energy award in committee reports. It�s a good thing, don�t worry.
Brad asks why it matters if Shanklin is torn down. Mainly for historic reasons.

Matt asks about what he should do if he hears about people being fire-inspected what they do. Mike says that they can confiscate things, but they can�t fine people.

New Business and Announcements

There was no new business or announcements.

Adjournment: 10:07 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Emily Malkin,
WSA Vice-President