The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) is calling the recently passed resolution for off-campus dining a compromise between its interests and those of the dining workers’ union and the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC). But the union and USLAC disagree, saying that the resolution still threatens jobs and arguing that dining workers have already compromised enough by accepting cuts last year.
The new resolution will allow the use of points at off-campus locations after 8 p.m. and during the weekends, when, WSA members say, on-campus dining is most limited. It stipulates that the WSA dining committee and general assembly must approve the labor practices of any restaurant chosen for the program.
According to the resolution, which was passed unanimously by the general assembly on Oct. 26, the off-campus points program will be in effect only for the remainder of this academic year. Chair of the WSA Student Activities Committee (SAC) Becca Solow ’04 said she aims to put the program into effect after Thanksgiving break.
Because the plan is temporary, the WSA argued, and restricted to certain times, it will not affect dining workers’ jobs. USLAC and the union responded that even a one-year program will threaten workers’ jobs and that there is no guarantee that the program will not be extended into next year.
The dining committee, composed of WSA members, a USLAC member, a dining union steward, Dean of Student Services Mike Whaley and Director of Auxillary Operations and Campus Services Manuel Cunard, originally developed the idea for an off-campus points program last spring. The WSA voted last semester to allow Giuseppe’s to accept points, but last month owner Rose Aresco, decided not to accept them amid the debate about the effect they would have on workers.
Both sides say they represent the will of the student body. The WSA cited a recent referendum vote favoring off-campus dining, and USLAC referred to a petition that they have gathered in support of their position.
“We really hoped that [the resolution] would please all parties involved to the greatest extent possible,” said Monica Arduini ’06, WSA assistant coordinator who drafted the first version of the resolution with Student Budget Committee member Pancho Carreno ’06.
“[USLAC’s] major concern is labor standards, and we accounted for that,” she said. “It really was a compromise if you look where [the WSA] was last year.”
USLAC member Joanna Lawler ’05 called the WSA members’ attempts to compromise insulting. “The workers have compromised a lot already and I don’t think the WSA realized that,” she said.
In a recent Wespeak, Lawler wrote that a Weshop manager told an employee that that her hours would be cut because more students have been eating at the Red and Black Café. AFL-CIO Local 217 Vice President Sue Silvestro confirmed this incident.
Lawler said that the resolution would have an impact on dining workers even if it was a one-year program and that there is no way to ensure that the WSA will not continue to have points off-campus next year.
Arduini and other members of the WSA and the dining committee said a FlexPoints system, in which students put cash on their ID cards separate from their dining points, will replace the plan next year, keeping points on campus.
Solow said that the WSA might consider using two restaurants, with one would be open exclusively for late-night dining during the week and the other limited to the weekends. Having two selections, she added, would provide a delivery option for late-night dining, avoiding safety concerns arising from students walking to pick up food.
The WSA, USLAC, and the union agreed that on-campus dining options are limited and in need of improvement. Silvestro and Lawler said students should not focus their energy on off-campus expansion.
“The one thing that they’re missing is that they should be able to get everything they need on this campus,” Silvestro said.
Solow said that the WSA is continuously trying to improve campus dining. “Our primary focus is, and continues to be, and has to be on-campus dining because that is what serves the majority of students; that’s the primary purpose of our meal plan, and that’s what we guarantee students and their parents when the come here,” she said. “We will continue to demand improvements in on-campus dining.”
She said that the Summerfields renovation and the new Science Center café are two examples of such improvements. Solow said that it is difficult to get Aramark to increase its current investment in the Campus Center because of plans for a new University Center to be completed during the 2006-2007 academic year.
Solow said she expects the dining committee to select a restaurant by Nov. 14 and the WSA general assembly to approve it by the following Sunday.
She said she the USLAC member on the committee, Brian Brotman ’07, would give a presentation assessing the labor practices of various Middletown restaurants. According to Solow, Senior Food Service Director Tim Reiss submitted a list of restaurants expressing interest in the program, including Thai Gardens, Typhoon, Brew Bakers, La Boca, Mamoun’s and Illiano’s Pizza. Reiss could not be reached for comment.
Lawler called Solow’s expectation unreasonable because USLAC members are not qualified to evaluate restaurant labor practices. She added that the dining committee needs better union representation, arguing that the union steward on the committee was chosen by Aramark and not by the union. Lawler said that the members of the committee in favor of off-campus points outweigh those against it.
She said that Brotman would probably advocate for a minimum wage standard of $9.16 an hour and the receipt of health benefits for workers putting in 30 hours a week. “It shouldn’t be about which restaurant is the least bad,” said Lawler.
She said that USLAC wants to push back the timetables for the implementation of the program so that labor practices can be considered more fully.
Solow said that the WSA would select one of the restaurants on the list even if USLAC does not agree to participate.
“If they do abstain from the process then they’re not going to have any input into the labor practices of the restaurant that we select,” she said.
After the first draft of the resolution was completed, Solow said she invited the WSA, USLAC, and the union to participate in the development of the resolution. Solow said that USLAC sent only one member, Beth Herz ’07, to the meeting to develop the resolution and that the union did not participate at all.
“[The USLAC representative] was there, not to participate in the compromise, but to tell us where USLAC was not willing to compromise,” Solow said. “USLAC was not interested in really making a compromise; they were interested in telling us what their position was again and again.”
Herz said she suggested adding a provision that only unionized restaurants be allowed to accept off-campus points. She said WSA members were not willing to add that clause because there were no unionized restaurants in Middletown. Herz said she suggested unionizing a restaurant in Middletown.
Arduini said all Middletown restaurants are small operations that could not afford to unionize without going out of business.
Herz said she also suggested including an assurance in the resolution that jobs on-campus will not be affected by the program. She said that Solow rejected the idea.
“I think we made an honest effort to come to a compromise with them and our invitation to work together on a resolution was pretty much rejected by USLAC,” Solow said.
According to those involved, the success of the resolution will depend on its ability to provide off-campus points, prevent job loss and be successfully replaced by FlexPoints next year.
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