Subcontracted workers deserve equal pay

By Ann Thomas

During a Cesar Chavez commemoration panel last week, many students, including myself, learned that there is a profound difference between the facilities workers who wear red shirts and those who wear green shirts.

Those who wear green shirts are subcontracted out to a company called DMS and are paid the region's "living wage," which is a little more than $12 an hour -- about double that of the federal minimum wage and more than California's minimum wage, which is $8 an hour.

This wage is substantially lower than that of the workers who wear red shirts. These workers are employed by the university and receive additional university employee benefits.

To me, the difference between "green" and "red" workers is not just an issue about pay and benefits. Subcontracting is also an issue that profoundly tests Santa Clara's mission to seek a more "humane and just" world.

The difference has recently become more relevant because contract negotiations for over 6,000 facilities workers in the Bay Area are being negotiated, including the DMS workers that are employed by the university.

From an economic standpoint, subcontracting makes sense. Subcontracting allows Santa Clara to fashion annual budgets with fewer variables, thus saving students a few dollars in tuition.

However, subcontracting comes with a substantial consequence to the goal of creating a more "humane and just" world.

Because the university is not responsible for the health and well-being of the subcontracted workers on campus, these workers negotiate their pay, working conditions and benefits with DMS, not Santa Clara.

Under subcontracting arrangements, the "green" and "red" workers will inevitability face greater inequalities in pay and benefits because the middleman takes a cut of the profit.

Several examples exhibit this fact.

The recent opening of the library has added fourteen extra bathrooms to the workload of DMS workers with no extra hourly pay or extra hours at the same rate of pay. Also, DMS workers have voiced concern about health issues associated with using certain cleaning products on a daily basis.

These DMS workers have asked for their names not to be published for fear of losing their jobs.

I believe that the university, true to its mission, would treat these workers better if they were employed directly by Santa Clara.

I cherish the Jesuit values of Santa Clara. I also appreciate the university's attempts to hold down tuition and other costs. However, surely every worker at the school who helps maintain this campus should be treated with fairness and respect.

So which value should win when there is a conflict between holding down costs and seeking a more "humane and just" world?

At the very least, it seems that Santa Clara needs a better system of monitoring the subcontractor company.

But perhaps the most just solution would be for Santa Clara to stop hiring subcontractors altogether.

If all university employees were employed directly, it would mean spending less money on large state-of-the-art buildings and more on the human beings that clean them.

Tuition would likely increase, but Santa Clara would be more fully fulfilling its mission.

Every four years, contracts are up for negotiation. In the past, students have been very active in helping negotiate contracts for both subcontracted and university workers.

As you read this article, DMS workers are in the process of renegotiating their contracts.

Conditions this year are more tense than in the past, however.

It will be difficult for workers and unions to stay united and fight for better contracts, not only because of the large number of facilities workers that are a part of these negotiations, but also because there is tension between the two labor unions that these workers belong to, Service Employees International Union and Service Workers United.

There will inevitably need to be a collaboration of students, workers and unions to fight for the rights of our workers. Because the negotiations are taking place now, it is essential to get as much student involvement and support as possible.

One worker, who has been involved in many contract negotiations at Santa Clara, said that students only see workers as part of the landscape, not as human beings.

"It is when we begin treating others as not human, that we ourselves no longer are human," he said.

He also added that when students fight for better benefits for workers on campus, "they are no longer just students, or even human beings. They become angels."

Ann Thomas is a senior political science, environmental studies and international political economy triple major.