Labor group rallies for workers' rights

By Gina Belmonte and Mary Georgevich

Shouts of "Si se puede!" rang out onto campus Wednesday afternoon from the free speech zone.

The Labor Action Committee held a rally to support the food service workers in their contract negotiations with Bon Appetit.

Workers are in the midst of negotiations over a contract that has been voted down twice since August. Some have said they don't trust their union representative to fight for them, so they've turned to the students in LAC and the Santa Clara Community Action Program for help.

"This is about justice," said Francesca McKenzie, SCCAP office manager, at the rally. "This is about being students at a Jesuit university."

The two-hour demonstration had at least 100 attendees, with many people coming and going throughout.

Dozens of students, workers, faculty and other laborers from all over the state spoke at the open-mic portion of the rally about topics from how the values Santa Clara emphasizes are not being used in this situation to the specific complaints the workers have about the contract.

Many speakers stressed that they feel these workers play an important role on campus. The workers that spoke thanked students for their support.

"Many workers want to be here, speaking, but are afraid," said Flor Barrientos, a steward who speaks to the union representative for the workers. "I'm not afraid."

She said the health care offered by the current contract is not enough for those workers who support their family.

"Two hundred dollars? Ten visits? How is that enough for our families?" Barrientos said.

Eddie Alexander, the father of SCCAP member Ricky Alexander, said the fact that these workers are subcontracted is "not an excuse for them to not be treated like Santa Clara University workers."

Mecha Al-Frente representative Yaya Morales said to cheers from the crowd, "They should be treated like people. They should be paid like people."

Some students have been wearing red and black bracelets to show their support for the workers this week. They've also worn red Xs on their clothing to demonstrate that they disagree with the contract, Beth Tellman, LAC director, said.

"It's an opportunity to educate people about what's going on," she said. "It's a great symbol of solidarity along with the bracelets."

Not everything that was said at the rally was true, though, said Lori Flashner, general manager of dining services.

"A lot of it is misinformation," she said.

Flashner declined to give specifics because of an agreement with the union not to discuss the negotiations with outside parties.

Tellman said she plans to discuss the contract negotiations with Jim Briggs, executive assistant to the president, Monday.

She said she wants the university to play a larger role in the contract negotiations than it has in the past.

"It should be the responsibility of the university, if it does subcontracting, to give oversight for that," Tellman said.

This week, Flashner and Tellman met to discuss the relationship between Bon Appetit and LAC.

"Bon Appetit and LAC have agreed to be transparent with each other," Tellman said. The two entities have agreed to be more forthcoming with their thoughts and information. "No lies, no sneaking around," Tellman said.

Flashner said Tellman and other SCCAP members had approached her earlier this year.

When a worker told her about the rally, Flashner decided to meet with them.

"I wanted to touch base just to make sure we were on same page as far as remembering we have a relationship of open communication," she said.

The next step will be for negotiations to continue, and for the workers to vote again, Flashner said.

Contact Gina Belmonte at gbelmonte@scu.edu and Mary Georgevich at (408) 554-4546 or mgeorgevich@gmail.com.