Students rally to support campus workers

By Troy Simpson

Students and employees of the facilities department held a rally last Thursday to raise awareness about ongoing contract negotiations between Santa Clara administration and the union representing facilities employees.

Members of Santa Clara Community Action Program's Labor Action Committee presented a petition and letter to Santa Clara President Paul Locatelli, S.J., outlining issues they feel need to be addressed by the administration.

"We held the rally to pressure the facilities management and the university administration by taking this important issue directly to the university community," senior LAC member Blair Thedinger said.

The letter stated that management should staff enough custodial employees so that no custodians would have to clean bathrooms of the opposite sex, cease the practice of filling vacant facilities positions with labor contracted out to external companies and have regular meetings with employees to discuss workplace issues in the workplace.

"We love to work here because we love the students. We love this place. We are asking for dignity and respect," said facilities employee Eugenio Ramirez, a steward for the union representing on-campus facilities employees.

Locatelli responded to the letter briefly: "I appreciate the concern on the part of the students who signed the petition about workers in the maintenance unit. I take exception to the implication that the university does not respect the dignity of its workers. That is not the case," he said in a statement.

Service Employees International Union Local 715, the union that represents Santa Clara facilities employees, invited a group of students into the contract negotiations with management last Thursday. Upon the students' entry to the meeting, university officials left, according to SEIU Local 715 Worksite Organizer Leah Berlanga.

Vice President for University Operations Joe Sugg said there was no prior notification that students would attend the meeting and that they had no place being there in the first place.

"Students are not welcome because this is not relevant to the issues on the table. We aren't negotiating with the students," Sugg said, who spoke on behalf of the university.

Standing at a lectern less than an hour later, senior Allison Cole told rally attendees she was upset at the university's decision to conclude the meeting.

"Nobody wants to listen to what (the workers) have to say and as students who pay their salaries, I think (university officials) should at least listen to what we have to say - They don't really value our opinion at all, apparently," Cole said.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume Friday morning.

Restroom cleaning

The first issue raised in the letter sent to Locatelli regards custodial employees cleaning the bathrooms of the opposite sex. LAC members say such cleaning creates "uncomfortable situation for everyone."

Facilities Director Jeff Charles said there should be no confrontation between students and custodial employees because bathrooms are supposed to be inaccessible to students while facilities employees are in them.

"Students are not to be in the restrooms while they're being cleaned. That's a safety issue. Students walking into the restroom when the floor is being mopped put themselves at risk," Charles said.

Sugg said that when restrooms are closed, they are "asexual."

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Helen Moritz said to her knowledge, no current university policy makes use of bathroom facilities while custodial employees are cleaning them a punishable offense.

"It's been expected of students that they would comply with the signs closing the bathrooms while they are serviced, but it will definitely be written on the housing residence contract next year," Moritz said.

According to Charles, there is currently one female university custodial employee responsible for cleaning a male bathroom.

Director of the Affirmative Action Office Conchita Franco Serri said this issue was raised ten years ago and at that time, she made an informal recommendation to the university that custodians only clean the bathrooms of the same gender.

She said she is unfamiliar with the current situation and is unable to make a recommendation now, but acknowledged that a custodian cleaning the bathroom of members of the opposite sex does present a "marginal risk."

Filling vacancies

The second issue raised in the letter to Locatelli regards the university's decision to fill vacancies in the in-house custodial staff with employees from Diversified Maintenance Services.

The university custodial staff is down to 20 employees from 40 of three years ago as a result of contracting out vacant positions, according to Berlanga.

DMS employees are represented by SEIU Local 1877, receive a benefits package that includes medical and dental coverage, and, according to SEIU Regional Vice President Salvador Bustamante, make anywhere from $8.04 per hour to $10.04 per hour at Santa Clara.

Sugg said those figures may be the wages determined in the contract between DMS and Local 1877, but that Santa Clara insists every DMS employee at Santa Clara make a minimum of $10.40 per hour.

DMS management was contacted for comment, but they did not return phone calls.

Santa Clara facilities employees make anywhere from $12.92 per hour to $16.99 per hour and, in addition to a comprehensive benefits package, can, along with their spouses and children, attend Santa Clara courses for free, according to Berlanga.

"I chose to attend SCU because of its strong commitment to building a strong and united community. Therefore, I understand the university and the decision to outsource in economic terms, but I do not agree," sophomore Senator Amparo Cid said.

Some workers voiced fears of losing their jobs to DMS employees, but Sugg said there is no reason for such a concern.

"We have not laid off one worker so we can hire one worker from DMS," Sugg said.

Members of LAC said in addition to differences between wages and benefits, DMS employees have a high turnover rate.

Vice President of SEIU Local 1877 Tom Csekey said it is not uncommon for lower paid employees to seek higher paid positions with other companies.

"I would say that at a job where you're making $17 per hour, you're probably going to have a lower turnover rate than in a job where you're making ten dollars and four cents per hour. That's just the nature of the beast," Csekey said.

The letter to Locatelli also addressed the workers' desire to have "regular meetings with management to discuss issues in the workplace."

"We just want to be able to sit down and talk. But that has been denied to us also," Union Steward Ray Menchaca said.

Sugg said workers shouldn't have a problem holding meetings with their supervisors.

"Anyone can talk to their supervisor. The issue of having meetings on equal terms has never been a problem here," Sugg said.

Rally in light of resolution

The rally last week came in the wake of a resolution passed Feb. 12 by the student senate that asked Santa Clara to cease employing subcontracted workers on a long-term basis in place of university facilities employees who quit, retire or leave their position for other reasons.

The resolution also states that subcontracted workers should be treated with "dignity and respect."

Additionally, the resolution says that custodial employees should not have to clean the restrooms of the opposite sex and that management should respect the rights of working people to reasonable job security, a living wage with benefits, just treatment, safe working conditions and the right to organize in association with trade unions.

After the resolution passed, junior Senate Chair Andrea Barrack requested a meeting between senate members, LAC and Sugg in order to learn more about the university's position on the issues raised in the resolution.

She said the meeting clarified her position on the issue.

"The freshman class has dropped drastically and the economy is not looking that great right now. Sometimes changes have to be made and we have administrators to make those changes," Barrack said.

Cid said the meeting was informative, but not persuasive.

"The meeting did clarify some points," Cid said. "However, it did not change my impression about the situation regarding the SCU facility workers."

Contract negotiations are expected to continue Friday morning.

Members of LAC and SEIU Local 715 say they are planning another rally Friday afternoon.

û Contact Troy Simpson at (408) 554-4546 or tsimpson@scu.edu.