The issue of points off campus has received much attention lately. Since the WSA passed its dining resolution on October 26 giving Aramark the green light to move forward with their plan to move points off campus, most of the power now rests with the WSA’s dining committee. It is their responsibility to select the restaurant where points will be used, and to adopt a set of standards for evaluating potential restaurants. These standards include the labor practices of the candidate restaurants, such as the hourly wages and benefits they offer their workers.
The dining committee is made up of representatives from the WSA, USLAC, EON, as well as the Local 217 Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union. Including representation from a variety of groups on campus is intended to make the committee function democratically with input from a variety of viewpoints. However, while the WSA, USLAC, and EON were able to select the individuals from their groups to represent their interests on this committee, the workers were not given that right. Instead, Aramark’s management chose an employee who has not been active in the union to be the dining committee’s union representative. The workers already have a system in place for assigning leadership roles and selecting representation. Aramark management has undermined that system through a blatant disregard for that procedure.
Leave a Reply