The United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC) sponsored a student-worker forum last night to address worries, ideas and experiences related to the upcoming bid for the University’s dining contract. The workers, some of whom have worked for campus dining services for over three decades, related concerns regarding new providers who might stunt hard-earned progress.

“Our members have a great relationship with the campus,” said Deb Jordan, secretary treasurer of the local chapter of UNITE HERE, a national union. “It really is a campus community.”

However, according to the speakers, the inclusive environment fostered through collaboration with student groups is threatened by the impending change. As a result, promises by possible new dining providers to maintain the current contract and keep current workers are considered cautiously.

“As long as they come in with the right attitude, we’re going to have the right attitude,” Jordan said.

Food service workers at the University have worked on improving their contracts since 1983. Fair wages and benefits are at the forefront of the matter, an element of the workers’ worries that are especially important considering that the working year for food service employees is 32 weeks long.

A wage increase of five percent was denied to the workers in their last contractual negotiation. The workers are paid salaries two-thirds lower than usual when the University is not in session.

Student opinion on food service wages has often included the argument that the conflict over contracts and salaries would not affect University students through labor shortage or service quality. The notion is misguided, the workers assert, because their aim is neither to leave campus nor lower the quality of work they set for themselves.

They said that their goal is rooted in practical needs for fair wages and benefits, issues most students support on a basic level.

“The fact is they only work thirty-two weeks out of the year,” said Alan Yaspan’08, a member of USLAC. “It comes out that if you consider all the money that goes into the University and Aramark…what they [receive in wages] is not a huge burden.”

The workers present at the forum shared the sentiment that they want to provide the best possible service for students. Therefore, their reasoning goes, the state of workers’ contracts at the University is relevant to students, who interact with food service providers on a daily basis.

Though the workers at the forum said management might prevent them from meeting all the dining requests of the student body, they agreed that they know what students want. More importantly, they feel they know these desires better than any of the major food service providers—Aramark, Bon Appetit, Sodexho, and Chartwells—that have been courting the University.

The new food service contract management will be the first to employ workers in the Usdan Campus Center. Like the move into the Davenport Campus Center in 1984, this change promises to affect food service workers more than just the location where they show up to work.

Forum presenters explained that the new University Center building is spatially designed to accommodate fewer workers. Rumors of job cuts have not been officially confirmed, but speculation that seniority will determine which positions move to the Usdan Campus Center have raised more concerns that the location switch will bring more negative changes for workers.

“It’s something to think about when you look at the new building and the monies that are going into this building,” said Raquel, who has worked for the University’s dining services since 1989.

In response to student inquiry, forum presenters gave suggestions as to how students can offer help. They stressed that student support was and is pivotal to their work as a union.

“What keeps us here is the university setting, and all of you,” said Sue Sylvester, a food service worker for nine years.

Student groups and individuals, they said, can aid by communicating their support for the workers to the administration. Letter writing and events like the Student-Worker forum maintain this support, which has bolstered union progress on campus.

In addition, students can demonstrate their support by talking to representatives of potential food service providers about workers’ rights. Using their voices to represent workers, students will find that simply making their support known to all parties involved in the bidding process will be most important, they concluded.

“We know that this is an issue that students would and do care about, especially when they’re aware of what’s going on and how it impacts the dining workers,” said Alexis Horan’10, a member of USLAC. “Hopefully when the bid finally goes through it will be with the best interests of the workers in mind—that’s much more likely to happen if students make it known that they care about it.”