Facilities workers still fighting for protection, rights

By Blair Thedinger

Last Thursday, students, workers and union representatives gathered outside the Mission Church to hold a prayerful candlelight vigil and hand out informational flyers. As our numbers grew, seven campus safety officers, the head of campus safety, several university administrators and two police cars swooped in to "maintain the peace." Fortunately, the silent vigil did not turn into a riot as the university administration seemed to expect. The relaxed atmosphere did not, however, prevent the university and law enforcement officials from shooing students and workers around the sidewalk space in order to uphold the campus "free speech" policy. ààààààààààààààààààààààà

àIn the latest round of negotiations, the workers, members of Service Employees International Union local 715, presented several very reasonable changes to their employment contract.àPrincipally, they want to stop the university's system of contracting out labor that is now done by members of the facilities staff. In a letter to faculty and staff last week, Locatelli wrote, "we have no plans to lay-off any union employees nor replace them with contractors." However, he failed to mention Santa Clara's ongoing practice of filling permanent staff positions with outside contractors.àààààààààààà

In the last three years, the number of custodial workers employed directly by this school has been cut from 40 to 19 and continues to decrease. As employees move on, their positions have been filled by employees of Diversified Maintenance Services (DMS). This practice has several negative effects that Locatelli forgot to mention while "setting the record straight" in his letter. àààààààààààààà

First, it decreases the bargaining power of the workers. As is being demonstrated now, the ability of the workers to bargain for better conditions does not depend on management generosity, but on the strength and unity of the bargaining unit. Contracting out undermines that strength by reducing the number of workers that can take actions, such as rallies and strikes during the negotiations process. àààààààà

Second, contracting out threatens the job security of facilities employees.àAt times, such as during a financial crunch, the university may reduce the overall size of the maintenance or custodial crew through lay-offs.àThe workers recognize that this is a possibility, but want to be assured that they can return to their positions when the financial troubles are over. àààààààààààà

Third, and I believe most important, the university is replacing jobs that provide the benefits necessary to support a family in Silicon Valley with jobs that do not.àContractors like DMS offer low-cost services by aggressively cutting labor costs.ààWorkers at DMS receive lower wages than Santa Clara employees ($8.04-10.04 per hour for DMS compared to $12.92-16.99 per hour for Santa Clara employees), they do not have adequate health or dental benefits and their family members do not have access to a Santa Clara education.àWorkers at DMS, who are primarily immigrants, have little voice in the workplace. One member of the DMS custodial night crew expressed that it was not safe to speak out since other employees had been targeted by management for union activity. It is shameful for the university to put the bottom line so far ahead of the well-being of those it employs. àààààààààààà

Locatelli goes on to say that the university administration has offered pay increases and "a pay adjustment that raises the gardener a pay level."

These gains for the working people of our university have been won through tough negotiations and struggles, not through the generosity of the facilities management or the president's office.

It is insulting to the workers and their elected negotiators to insinuate that these gains were freely offered. The pay adjustment is long deserved and came after protests, rallies and other forms of pressure. àààààààààààà

However, the increase in wage, though rightly deserved, is not the workers' primary goal. Giving a yearly pay increase of 3 percent, which accommodates the rising cost of living for Santa Clara facilities workers, is not enough.àThe workers have made it clear that they are willing to negotiate smaller pay increases if the university will simply halt the unjust process of outsourcing their work. àààààààààààà

President Locatelli goes on to claim that the union's proposals to limit outsourcing would "preclude us from hiring whom we judge as the best person or company to do, for example, very technologically sophisticated work." This is simply a scare tactic.

The worker's union recognizes the schools' right to hire outside companies to do more technically sophisticated work or to hire temporary labor in the event of a large campus event or unforeseen absences in the permanent staff.

The labor union simply wants a guarantee that outside contractors will be hired on a temporary basis and that work currently being done by permanent Santa Clara employees will not be outsourced. àààààààààààà

President Locatelli claims that he is "proud that [facilities workers] are members of our campus community," yet he refused on three separate occasions to meet with them so that they could express their concerns? When directly confronted by workers, their families, and their student supporters outside the opening celebrations of the Golden Circle fundraising event, President Locatelli called the group's protest "stupid." I recommend that the president and his officials actually engage the workers in an honest dialogue before making empty assertions about respect and dignity. àààààààààààà

Finally, some in the Santa Clara community have expressed concern over the workers tactic of demonstrating outside religious functions. On numerous occasions, I have listened to the impassioned speeches from the workers in which they reference their spiritual convictions. They have taken their struggle to "sacred ground" because it is a moral one and they are members of the campus's religious community.

In the gospel read on Holy Thursday, Jesus breaks bread to share with his disciples.àThe workers, who maintain the physical beauty of this community, now ask us to share in their challenges and struggles. Shall we dismiss their concerns, claiming to know the path of social justice without walking it? Or should we follow the gospel message by humbling ourselves and vocally supporting those people who do the physical work of this community?

û Blair Thedinger is a member of the Santa Clara Community Action Program's Labor Action Committee.