Wesleyan Student Assembly — Wesleyan University

Minutes: September 23, 2007

WSA Officers

President: Matt Ball

Vice President: Emily Malkin

Coordinator: Izaak Orlansky

Treasurer: Gianna Palmer

Meeting Agenda and Business

1. Roll Call
2. Fight Song
3. Approval of Last Week's Minutes
4. Open Forum
5. Agenda Item I: Bon Appetit Labor Issues
    - Presentation from Delmar Crim, Bon Appetit Resident District Manager
    - Questions for Delmar Crim from the Community
    - Discussion On the Issue
6. Committee Reports
7. New Business and Announcements

Opening of Meeting: 7:15 pm

Attached Documents: Committee Reports

Roll Call (5:42pm)

Fight Song

Open Forum

No non-WSA members raised anything at open forum.

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

President Matt Ball welcomes all to meeting and introduced Delmar Crim

 

Presentation by Delmar Crim: Discussion of Labor Issues and Bon Apetit

Works for Bon Apetit, General Manager at Wesleyan University. Standards of working with fresh products, local farmers. Challenging environment but loves being in Connecticut with his family.

 

Stack:

 

·        Matt asks Mr Crim to speak on the issue of the AFC Sushi workers

·        Delmar replies that AFC brought to campus per his suggestion; experience with AFC at other universities. He stated that the AFC products are always fresh. Also, article ??? allows for this

·        Mike asks about compensation for AFC workers in comparison to union workers

·        Mr. Crim replies they make at or above the same  as union workers. He also stated that their culture

·        Alan asks Mr. Crim to specify

·        Crim says sushi work is a specialized service he also said that the Wesleyan University community must decide if it wants fresh sushi or sushi shipped in

·        Emily asks Mr. Crim to explain his views of the negotiations cutting benefits and hours of  employees

·        Mr. Crim described the process for postings for work hours for employees; he also stated that the personin question knowingly signed up for hours without benefit

·        Becky read Article 29.1 and stated that sushi workers have specialized skills for this service

·        Marjorie asks what Mr. Crim would say to the student in response to the sit-in boycott of the USdan

·        Mr. Crim says he understands change is hard and apolizes from his heart that students are not satisfied and expresses that change is coming and asks for patience

·        Allison asks if service workers working in Mocon and Davenport were the only ones who could bid on new jobs in the campus center

·        Mr. Crim says that is essentially correct but if others with seniority wanted to bid they could

·        Fludie asks  if sushi workers actually want to join the union

·        Mr. Crim says that some may want to and some may not but feel pressured by the Wesleyan community

·        Matt refers to article 2.2 of the contract in regards to  if employee doesn’t pay union dues they would be discharged and asks if the sushi workers are a violation to the contract if they do not join the union

·        Mr. Crim refers back to article 29.1

·        Motion to extend stack unanimously approved

·        Julien asks for everyone not to generalize about cultures. He asks if sushi workers are not unionized does that hurt the union

·        Mr. Crim says that AFC has coexisted well with many other companies. He also notes his sensitivity to generalizing about cultures

·        Jessie asks if janitors are allowed to buy food from the campus center and if they are allowed to eat in the dining hall and if they get discounts for food.

·        Mr. Crim said that Bon Apetit never did anything to restrict that but their supervisors may have. Mr. Crim also says that it not his place to give away food that belongs to the school

·        Marjorie asks why sushi workers wont join union and asks about discounts

·        Mr. Crim says that sushi workers may simply want more money for other reasons and have different values and also says that eating out is a discount and people can bring their own lunch

·        Izaak asks Mr. Crim to clarify how the sushi workers are paid and asks if anyone in the union get paid off sales

·        Mr. Crim says that they are paid of commission in how much sushi they sell and union members are not paid that way.

·        Alan asks why certain food service workers lost their hours

·        Mr. Crim replied that if hours were lost it was because that person didn’t bid on a job with more hours.

·        Motion to extend stack passed unanimously

·        Candace asks Mr. Crim to clarify how the process of bidding on hours works. Also, she asked if there was another subcontractor that does have Candace also Asks if there is another sushi subcontractor that is unionized

·        Mr. Crim says that people with seniority could bid on jobs. Mr. Crim says that there are no unioised sushi workers

·        JZ yields time to Matt Ball who asks why jobs at weshop change if they are not affected by the new campus center.

·        Mr. Crim replied that because usdan was built the dynamics of weshop were changed

·        Julien asks  regarding contract that with new higher wage required per contract if the sushi worker’s pay is accordingly subject to that contract

·        Mr. Crim says that the sushi business if a family run business and comments on the sushi worker’s nice cars and clothes

·        Mike asks what concessions have been made to the union and what has been done in negotiations

·        Mr. Crim said that floor in the kitchen that was chronically wet was fixed as well as air conditioning sytem was fixed

·        Jessie asks how Mr. Crim as a person feels about an older person who loses benefirts from a job

·        Mr. Crim says that because he works under the confines that the union impose even though he feels as a person badly he cannot act on those feelings

·        Becky asks if the contract has been looked over by a legal professional due to contradictions as AFC workers don’t need to be part of the union and also say they must be

·        Mr. Crim replied that two groups have overlooked the contract

·        Sue says that the union feels that AFC should join the union as the contract states. She also underscores that they need benefits. She also asks if Mr. Crim has read article 8 of the contract.

·        Mr. Crim says that he read article 8 and that the sushi workers don’t work for Wesleyan or Bon Apetit they are a franchise given right to come in. Mr. Crim also asks if Wesleyan would be willing to pay up to two dollars more per box of sushi

·        Emily asks that since contract is expiring soon and asks how the agreement will change

·        Mr. Crim responds that he has good faith that they would follow that agreement until expiration

·        Lauren asks how Weswing and Red and Black fit in

·        Mr. Crim says that they are grandfathered in and noted their higher prices

·        Sandi asks why four hours were cut on Sunday night

·        Mr. Crim replied that ten new positions were added

·        Allsion asks if bon apetit pays AFC. Also, she inquries if he can find out how the sushi workers are paid. Also, she asks if he can speak to the switch of he healthcare plan.

·        He says that bon apetit pays AFC and AFC pays the workers. He says he will try to find out how they are paid. He also says that Compass gets a better rate from Etna that it does with Blue Shield.

·        Micah asks point of clarification if sushi chefs are paid on commission or if AFC is . Also, Micah asks if there is a system in place where workers can ask for certain hours with more flexibility and if workers can approach bon apetit to request more hours.

·        Mr. Crim says that the sushi workers themselves are paid on commission. He replies also that they union doesn’t always let that happen but hours have been increased.

·        JZ wonders what was being addressed in regards to worker safety especially the grease from ducts covered by cardboard

·        Mr crim says that vents are being fixed

·        Alexis asks if student body can allow janitors to receive discounts.

·        Mr. Crim says that once you open a box you don’t know where it would stop.

·        Robert aks Mr. Crim to clarify the reasons the sushi workers don’t want to be unionized

·        Mr. Crim replies that there are no sushi union houses

·        Alec asks a question to which Mr. Crim replies that sushi is a specialized craft

 

Discussion/Debate

 

• Lauren says she is worried that sushi workers are not union and also asks about red and black and weswings and if they are part of the union. She also states that she thing as a community we want Sandi to have her hours back but at the same time she sympathizes with Mr. Crim’s procedural restrictions.

 

• Matt wanted to talk about the dining meeting that occurred earlier this week and asks the committee members to discuss what occurred in the meeting

 

• Beckly replies that they went through a list of student concerns and said Bon Apetit to agree to new food items and now Saturday brunch is a meal and not solely points and athletes may have breakfast at 8. Also, she said they talked about janitors and they get free beverages and are in no way restricted from eating in the campus center. Also there is a new late night menu

 

• Izaak says that who has the authority to determine hours seems to be a conversation needed to occur between union and bon apetit. Also, he is concerned that AFC sushi workers are being paid on commission.

 

• Raquel says that compass is the worlds largest food service provider and says that discounting items for staff should be no problem. She also stated that bon apetit agreed to honor the union contract when they came on campus and she wants the people working side by side with union workers to have the same benefits.

 

• Candace has a problem with the terms “they” and “we” and says that we are one unified campus and also added that she believes that janitors should be respected.

 

• Becky clarifies on Candace’s remark that the janitor restrictions were in no way a part of their contract. She also added that arbitration is inevitably needed to further the conversation about the AFC workers joining the union.

 

• Emily asks what the definition of service contractors ??? Raquel answers that janitors have not been organized for more than five years and that is why their wages are lower and that is why a code of conduct was created. Dean Rick added that this also pertains to other service workesr

 

• Alex says that he feels uncomfortable with cultural generalizations and suggests that students meet with those workers with an interpreter to clarify the situation

 

• Micah says that in terms of workers hours cutting certain hours may be contractually acceptable but brings up the idea that Wesleyan in a community and what may work for the contract doesn’t necessarily fit into the wes community. Micah also comments that the Wesleyan students may be willing to pay more per box of sushi.

 

• Lizzie refers to article 12.3. She also says she talked to a janitor who hadn’t eaten in 8 hours on the job and says she doesn’t understand how a company like compass can not afford to reduce prices.

 

• Irene says she doesn’t understand why the sushi workers cant join union. She expressed her own personal wages and how pivotal health benefits have been to her life.

 

• Sue says that red and black café is not on campus and may not be subject to the union. She also asks why the union workers are not on the dining committee. She also said it is important to note when a new company comes in they don’t understand the extent of the preexisting contract.

 

• Motion to extend stack passes

 

• Allison says as someone on dining committee that it would be helpful to have dining workers on the committee as well. She is scared that sushi workers are a separate entity

 

• Alan says perhaps we as a community should address worker needs as a pivotal student concern.

 

• Marjorie addresses her concern for the affordability of food. She is worried that students will run out of points. She also has an issue with sushi workers not being unionized especially because the deal with raw fish. She also comments that as a community we should address individual cuts in hours.

 

• Matt asks if there is a scheduled arbitration has been set. Sue replies that bon apaetits lawyers are coming tomorrow. Matt states that if the contract requires a closed union shop then sushi workers must join the union and poses the question of wheter it is legal to have people not be part of the union.

 

• Mr. Crim says it is a privilage working in this campus and says most service workers are on social assitance. He comments that most of the cost of food goes to pay the food service worker. He also added that Connecticut has highest paid food service workers. 

 

• Raquel says she is a single mom of two and is proud to work on this campus representing food service workers. Raquel says that if sushi workers are forced to join the union or lose their jobs that the university can do something about it

 

• Mike discussed representation on the dining committee. He thinks that the workers’ voice is missing from this committee and is needed; he feels that this should be a top priority. Dean Rick hopes that that wouldn’t take away from student voice.

 

• Saul says that after serving on dining committee he is confident that Bon Apetit wants to work to answer student concerns . He also wants to discuss pricing for food

 

• Becky comments that at the last dining committee meeting prices were discussed and wants to continue discussing lower prices.

 

• Izaak wamts to respect negotiation process that has been going on for 18 years

 

• Sam thinks we are saying prices are too expensive and simultaneously that we want benefits for workers and notes the contradictions between the two.

 

• AJ adds that students will be outraged if quality of food decrease.

 

• Emily adds s that bon apetit was chosen due to its fresh products

 

• Jessie says it might be good to make an exception in Sandi’s case.

 

• Misty, dietician for Bon Apetit, says the number one student comment is that quality of food is great but price is too expensisve. She adds that some people may not want prices raised.

 

• Sandi comments that at Wesleyan University students are receptive to major issues and will not overlook Bon Apetit/ union labor issues

 

• Sue says that this type of dining will cost a lot and she says that as a worker she will not apoligize for having house or cars and is insulated that dining workers were taken off the dining committee and were not even told

 

• Bradley asks when university will step in to pressure bon apetit to dreal with the issues presented. Dean  Rick  replied that university is confident that bon apetit will honor contract.

 

• Candace yields time to Marjorie who comments that we are here to negotiate to find an agreement between student needs and worker needs simultaneously.

 

• Lauren thinks it would be easier for us to understand the issue if we see distribution of where the money we pay for food goes whether it is to food service workers or food quality.

 

• JZ is privileged to have the last word and expresses on behalf of the WSA a great thanks for all those who came to speak. He also wants to address the sushi issue and believes that perhaps the sushi chefs don’t want to join the union and underscores the complexity of this issue.

Committee Reports

 
 

In addition, there is one room designated for meeting space for any group, two storage rooms, and one open room which will be assigned to a group.

 

2. WesTV:

WesTV is now a student group, is getting a listserv, once that happens, we’ll set up a first meeting for sometime in the next week or so.

 

3. Public Safety Advisory Committee:

CeOCo is meeting with Dave Meyer and the non-WSA PSAC member on Tuesday for a preliminary PSAC meeting.

 

4. COCo Appointments:

Getting excited for our 2 new COCo members. Woohoo!

 

Educational Policy Committee (EPC)

 

1. Faculty Advisor Evaluations

The faculty/student EPC is currently attempting to design a formal system to give evaluative feedback to faculty advisors. Student advisees would have the option of filling out feedback sheets (this would probably be done during the transition from a pre-major to major advisor), and this information would be kept in an anonymous format and given to the faculty advisor. The EPC believes that such a system could improve the overall advising process by better enabling faculty advisors to self-evaluate.

 

2. Matching Incoming Frosh to Faculty Advisors

The EPC is working to improve the system by which we match freshmen with advisors. Currently one of the main factors in deciding this match is an “academic interests” sheet that is filled out by matriculating students. Currently students have the option of selecting as many academic interests as they want, which makes it difficult to determine what field eethey would really prefer to have an advisor work in. In light of this, the EPC hopes to change the process so that students actually rank their academic interests, rather than just checking boxes of fields in which they might be interested.

 

3. Course Cluster Reform

Last year the student EPC wrote up a proposal to reform the “course cluster” designations on Wesmaps, which are not well understood or monitored. This proposal will be discussed by the full student/faculty EPC at this Monday’s meeting, and a more detailed report will be given to the WSA sometime in the next few weeks.

 

Finances and Facilities Committee (FiFaC)

 

1. Dining:

Issues with dining are, obviously, ongoing. At the second meeting of the Dining Committee we continued to tackle pressing issues.

• New additions to the committee this week were:

- Bon Appetit Executive Chef Jim LaChance

- SAC members Saul Carlin ’09 and Allison Quantz ’10.

• We went through a long list of student requests gathered by Tressa Eaton ’09, EON rep. Bon Appetit agreed to almost all of the suggestions, with some of them already on the way.

- You can now use meals at Saturday brunch instead of just points.

- Anyone should be able to get breakfast at 8am daily in the Usdan Café.

• We discussed the problem of the shortage of student workers and gave suggestions for recruiting more students through better advertising.
• We got free beverages approved for the Usdan janitors and there will be no more restrictions on where they are permitted to eat.
• Worker issues were also discussed. Dean Rick said that the contracts of the AFC sushi workers comply with the Code for Service Workers, meaning that the AFC workers earn a living wage plus more.
• And there is a fantastic new menu for Late Night!!

Next week we take on prices.

 

2. Committee assignments:

This week was the first official FiFaC meeting and we got off to a great start. The members of FiFaC will be serving on the following sub-committees:

·        Becky Weiss ’10 – Dining, Molecular & Life Sciences Building, Major Maintenance

·        Alex Levy ’08 – Endowment Advisory, Code Compliance, Business Continuity

·        Melgily Valdez ’09 – Endowment Advisory, Shuttle, Work Study Advisory Board

·        Julien Burns ’10 – Project Save, Undergraduate Residential Life

·        Jen Liebschutz ’11 – Sustainability, Usdan Advisory

 

3. Code Compliance Board:

The mystery of the Code Compliance Board (CCB) is slowly being unfurled. Little information had been known about the CCB, for it was not very active last year. It has been uncovered that the CCB was created as a result of the Code for Service Workers, written and signed by the administration and members of USLAC in 2000, and revised in 2005. Alex and Becky met with Professor Jonathon Cutler, the faculty liaison to the Board and the only previously known existing link to it. He gave us some history of the CCB and some important documents related to it. Becky is now in the process of getting an administrative contact to officially start the meetings, with help from Dean Rick. So far Human Resources has been a bit evasive, but we will surely get to the bottom of things soon.

 

4. Business Continuity Committee

The Business Continuity Committee had its first meeting of the semester this week. We couldn’t make the meeting, but will hopefully have an update soon and meetings rescheduled to fit Alex’s schedule.

 

Organization and External Affairs Committee (OEAC)

 

1. Goals and responsibilities
   Since we do not yet have a full committee, we didn't divide up responsibilities yet. Our big project this week is organizing and running appointments.
   
   In addition to OEAC's organizational resposibilities (planning/running meetings, elections, appointments, taking minutes, etc) and our external committees (ITS, UR, and CRC), the big issues that we're going to tackle this year are:

·        Making sure the WSA website is used to its full potential (updating regularly, having it be the homepage on Wesleyan computer labs, streaming meetings, blogging, putting up student events)

·        Securing funding for New York Times

·        Making a clear system for students to access the emergency loan fund.

·        Creating a comprehensive publicity strategy for the WSA

·        Figuring out the best way to do campus surveys and feedback

 

We also have a number of short term projects that will be addressed in our first full committee meeting next week.

 

2. Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees report is all ready to go, but will be postponed until next week to coincide with President Roth’s visit. 

 

Student Affairs Committee (SAC)

 

1. Committee assignments

·        Fludie – SHAC, SCPA, Housing Fines Appeals Board

·        Candace – AOD Assessment Subcommittee, URLC

·        Micah – AOD Policy and Enforcement Subcommittee, URLC

·        Allison – AOD  Policy and Enforcement Subcommittee, Dining

·        Marjorie – AOD Education Subcommittee, Housing Fines Appeals Board

·        Saul – AOD Environmental Strategies Subcommittee, OBHS, URLC, Dining

 

2. Meetings set up

- Student Life Committee (SLC) meetings will begin on Thursday, September 27.  Several of the key issues the committee will address in the early part of the semester include the budget cuts, campus climate, and event registration policy.

- Undergraduate Residentail Life Committee (URLC) will begin on Tuesday, September 25.  Several of the key issues the committee will address in the early part of the semester include card access policy, forced triples, first year dorm selection policy, dorm renovations, laundry accessibility, gender neutral housing, GRS process, program houses, and far more.

 

3. Meetings held

Student Health Advisory Committee, Office of Behavioral Health and Services Committee, and the Dining Committee all met this week and had SAC representation.

 

Student Budget Committee (SBC)

 

1. Initial Allocations

Initial allocations went relatively smoothly.  The SBC is doing its best

to avoid overspending, while also keeping in mind that there is more money

to work with this year, due to the raise in the Student Activities Fee.

 

2. Online system status

The online system still has great potential, but has a lot of initial

glitches to be worked out. Gianna has been e-mailing with Barbara

Spadaccini daily(sometimes hourly) to resolve technical issues that

student groups have reported with the online system.

 

3. Projector needed

The SBC needs to purchase a projector for its meeting room. If anyone on

the assembly knows of an inexpensive way to do this, please speak to

Gianna after the meeting.

 

4. Appointments

The SBC looks forward to the appointment of two additional members to

reach a full committee of seven people.

 

STACK

 

FIFAC

• Mike asks if we can get more seats on the code compliance board
• Bradley asks if minutes are kept at committee meetings and if they are formally approved by the WSA.

 

OEAC

• Lucas asks what the emergency loan fund is. Emily responds that it is a no interest loan available in emergency situations to students for tuition.
• Mike asks how the committee is doing in terms of publicity. Emily responds by saying the committee has many new ideas, in particular maintaining the WSA website.
• Meglily asks about the Emergency Loan Fund and where it comes from.

 

SAC

• Liana asks if HIV tests are free at the health center, Fludie responded that yes they are free but she will check again at the next meeting.
• Allison asks that if HIV testing is free where funding comes from for it

 

SBC

• Darien asks how SBC makes sure that clubs and groups spend money. Gianna replies that they must present receipts
• Lauren asks if honorariums are negotiable and how they work. Gianna replies that you need a contract to have an honorarium.
• AJ asks if there is a way for the WSA to see the spending. Matt says that the constitution stipulates that the SBC must submit a report at the end of each semester.
• Alec asks what is to stop someone from getting an honorarium for their high school buddies to play (as a band)
• Bradley asks what is the process for choosing how money is distributed.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

Matt applauds tonight’s meetings professionalism. Matt adds that next week President Roth will be coming in to speak to the WSA. He also needs help with the social justice event

 

Movement to adjourn the meeting to proceed with internal elections

 

Motion to adjourn

Adjournment at 10:21 pm

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Samantha Pop,

WSA Frosh Representative