Worker protest cancelled after negotiations

By Jesus Diaz

Campus employees challenged managers of Bon Appétite this past week, claiming management is ignoring their grievances.

"Since I've gotten here, it's been allegation after allegation," said Service Workers United union leader Alvin Patino of the contracted dining company. "The work environment is not that great here and basically all the workers are demanding respect and equal treatment."

While demands started about four months ago, allegations date back as far as two or three years ago. Employees said there has been little action on the part of management in responding to issues of harassment, racism and pay.

The inaction lead to the organization of a protest by workers, Patino and the Santa Clara Community Action Program. The protest was later cancelled.

Blanca Pineda, a kitchen worker, said one of the managers voiced an explicit, racially-charged comment when describing the workers of Mexican heritage at the university.

The sandwich-maker says she has been harassed and many other co-workers have had it worse.

The workers initially contacted Patino last December. The union leader said "things started to heat up" two months ago with many workers claiming they were being harassed. There are currently 30 complaints total.

About six weeks ago, Patino met with a human resources representative of Bon Appétit, as well as concerned workers, and saw no progress on the situation.

The protest, planned for last Friday at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, was cancelled the night before after Bon Appétit management arranged a last-minute meeting.

According to Patino, the meeting featured "higher-ups" of the company and finally gave the workers a window of opportunity.

"We were finally taken seriously because they did bring important people like the Chief Operating Officer of the company," Patino said.

The meeting concluded that Patino was to specifically record every grievance expressed by workers and turn over the filed complaints to a human resources representative by Wednesday, April 21.

Patino has been at the Bronco recording these since last weekend.

Investigations of every case started yesterday, with Bon Appétit management providing the workers with a proposed solution by Friday night.

Despite the workers' willingness to cancel the planned protest, Patino and the workers said they have no fear.

"If we're not pleased with the outcome of the investigation, we could move it forward to arbitration," said Patino.

Arbitration is the last step of the grievance process, which would involve the company's highest actions and is reserved for some specific cases.

Currently, Patino has one case set to go to arbitration with another case pending in arbitration.

"I not only want the company to respect the workers when I am here, I want the workers to always be respected," he said.

Flor Barrientos expressed her complaints about Bon Appétit.

Barrientos is one of six shop stewards, or workers who are directly involved with the union process.

Barrientos said managers have ignored her multiple times and have told her to ask the workers to "work better," instead of complaining about silly things.

According to the shop steward, workers have come to her with all kinds of complaints about wage problems, harassment and even racist comments.

"The workers have been emotionally hurt and some are also yelled at," she said.

Barrientos organized a meeting at Roundtable Pizza in February.

"I only had 15 people on my list but people kept coming and coming," said Barrientos in Spanish, her native language. "It was then when I noticed that this was a bigger issue than what I thought."

According to Barrientos, the event was attended by about 37 angered workers.

Other workers, like Araceli Pedroza, complain of harassment by co-workers but not by the management.

"I've personally been harassed by some of my co-workers, not necessarily by managers," said Pedroza. "I cannot speak for other workers here, but I've never received any harassment from the management."

The Labor Action Committee in SCCAP is also involved.

"I really hope the management responds and is good on their word simply because I know the workers are ready to protest and take action on this issue," said senior Sarah Bradley, director of LAC.

Bradley says strong complaints have been heavily building for months and she is glad serious meetings have started.

"The workers love this school and we should reinforce them with the knowledge of how we think they should be treated," she said.

Fabio Soto, general manager university dining services by Bon Appétit, said he cannot personally respond to any allegations until all are verified by this Friday. Should findings verify hostility or intimidation, Soto said the management "will be dealt with."

"We will talk to a full spectrum of employees so we get a clean picture of what these allegations are and not a just one-sided picture," he said.

The general manager said he is not surprised by the number of allegations since workers were given the freedom to express all their complaints, no matter how long ago they occurred.

Regarding Friday's anticipated results, Soto said he expects closure.

"We are all in this fight together," Barrientos said. "If we're not happy, we're ready to start fighting again."

Contact Jesus Diaz at jadiaz@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.