On Oct. 15, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) passed a resolution calling for extensive reform of labor conditions and workloads of the University’s custodial staff. Soon after, the WSA announced that this resolution had gained its first formal showing of support from the administration.

The resolution called for, among other things, the creation of a Code Compliance Board to address and investigate issues of custodial fair labor practices on campus. Sunday’s WSA newsletter stated that Vice President for Finance and Administration John Meerts had to fight for the creation of such a board. Meerts clarified, however, that such a board already exists, though it has not met very often in recent years.

“I think the code compliance board […] will monitor to some degree that agreed-upon policies and procedures are in fact followed,” Meerts wrote in an email to The Argus. “[…] I presume that the board will serve as an advisory group to the administration around these issues.”

According to Meerts, many of the students’ ideas for improving the custodial work environment make sense.

“I think that we as an institution have an obligation to see that all employees, whether employed directly by the university or by subcontractors, are being treated according to all legal requirements [and] safety requirements as, say, defined by [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration],” Meerts wrote.

Meerts elaborated on the role the Code Compliance Board will have in shaping fair custodial labor policy on campus.

“[T]he university can optionally implement certain policies and practices […] that go beyond those legal requirements, such as paying all workers a living wage as defined by the institution,” Meerts wrote. “There may be other things that could come out of the conversations with the code compliance board that may make sense for the university to implement.”

David Whitney ’16, a member of Wesleyan’s United Student Labor Action Coalition  (USLAC) who also serves on the WSA and sponsored the resolution, explained the significance of the WSA resolution.

“In broadest terms, what this resolution asserts…is that Wesleyan should be developing its own standards for what fair labor practices are on campus,” Whitney said. “There’s a lot of industry standards and metrics for fair labor practices.… What the WSA resolution says—it’s actually kind of radical—is that we shouldn’t be looking to those standards to validate how we treat the workers on our campus.”

Whitney and other members of USLAC see Meerts’ expression of support as the first substantive administrative support for custodial labor reform on campus.

“The biggest win here, I think, was that John Meerts agreed to go to bat for us for the constitution of this board,” Whitney said.

Representatives of both USLAC and the WSA expressed optimism about the future of the resolution and the Code Compliance Board.

“The administration is taking us seriously, and this is a big step,” wrote WSA Vice President Andrew Trexler ’14 in an email to The Argus. “The Code Compliance Board […] will have real power, which is really important. The recent adjustments to reduce workload on current workers, although in lieu of hiring new staff, is also a big plus.”

There is one issue, however, that remains a sticking point for USLAC, the WSA, and the administration alike: the University does not directly employ its own custodial staff, instead subcontracting to Sun Services, LLC. This raises the question of whether the Code Compliance Board would be vested with any real authority.

Meerts acknowledged that while the University is not legally able to negotiate with or for the custodial staff, it can negotiate with Sun Services and ensure that certain conditions are met.

“We can have language in a contract with our vendors that stipulates certain things as long as it does not contradict rights that workers already have under their union contract,” Meerts wrote. “But I imagine that our contract with Sun will have stipulations, and that this is how this will be operationalized.”

Alma Sanchez-Eppler ’14, another member of USLAC, was similarly optimistic about the prospects for negotiation with Sun Services over better working conditions.

“Sun Services is hired by Wesleyan, and [Wesleyan has] made it seem like [Sun Services takes] direct marching orders from the customer,” Sanchez-Eppler wrote in an email to The Argus. “If Wesleyan asks for something, especially if they provide funding to do it[…]it will get done. I hope [the University is] telling the truth.”