The Wesleyan Student Workers Association (WSWA) was formed by students who were dissatisfied with the treatment they were getting at their worksites. They realized that individual complaints acting in the absence of formal channels for grievances could not guarantee speedy and satisfactory results. A formal organization of workers was needed to give student employees the leverage and the status they required to have an influential voice and to be able to effect lasting changes.
A petition was circulated in early December and the response was overwhelming. More than 100 ARAMARK student workers, almost two-thirds of the total, signed from all dining service outlets. As the group developed, it was clear that student workers needed formal structures of communication between ARAMARK management, the Wesleyan administration and student worker representatives. Through a series of meetings with both Wesleyan and ARAMARK administrators, the WSWA learned that Wesleyan is the official employer of all student dining service employees and that ARAMARK is obligated through their contract with the university to provide jobs for students. It also became clear that ARAMARK knew nothing about the nature of the Wesleyan work-study program and student obligations. Similarly, the Wesleyan administration was unaware of problems encountered by student food service workers. Information was not even being circulated between employer and sub-contractor, let alone to students.
From the inception of the WSWA, ARAMARK professional workers have been consulted, and have been extremely supportive of all student efforts to organize. Solidarity has always been the objective of both parties. Union stewards and the area coordinator of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union (H.E.R.E.) Local 217 were contacted immediately after the WSWA formation, laying the foundation for what has been, and will continue to be, a mutually beneficial relationship. Union wokrers have attended University Club employees meetings; WSWA members have been invited by the union to grievance meetings. In the past, the relationship between students and professional workers has not always been one of respect and understanding. What the WSWA and H.E.R.E. Local 217 are attempting to accomplish is a bridging of the gap between students and professional workers, whose relationship is aggravated by ARAMARK employee policies. The management strategy of ARAMARK has been to divide and conquer. They use students and their “desires” as ways to avoid taking responsibility for policies detrimental to workers. The WSWA and Local 217 are sharing information and tactics in order to further the interests of both groups of, workers which are clearly served by cooperation. Student employees work side by side with professional workers at all dining establishments on campus, and we are working together off the job now as well.
The goals of the WSWA are to establish: 1) Contracts between student workers and their employer; contracts would secure hours, ensure two weeks notice on schedule changes, require advance notice of dismissals and resignations, and create regular meetings between ARAMARK and student workers; 2) A standardized procedure to resolve student grievances; this procedure would involve an ongoing dialogue between student workers, ARAMARK and Wesleyan administrators; 3) Continued cooperation between unionized employees and student workers.
Our goals do not include becoming a legal union. We are attempting to create worker solidarity in order to forge a respectful and democratic workplace. IT is important that the WSWA continues to grow, and that more and more student workers become actively involved with the organization. The WSWA is built on the campus-wide support of dining service student workers. Get involved. Come to the meetings (Thursdays at 9 p.m., campus center meeting room 1). Let your voice be heard, as only then will we achieve the change that we need.
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