Food service workers are the lowest paid of all staff at U of T’s campuses, and U of T should be held accountable for the company it contracts out to for essential services, says the workers’ union. On Feb. 11 UNITE/HERE, which represents food service workers at U of T’s St. George and Scarborough campuses, will hold a rally outside of Sid Smith to protest what it argues are unfair labour practices on the part of food services giant Aramark Corporation.
Organizers of the rally, which is supported by the University of Toronto Students’ Union, say they would like the university to outright end its contract with Aramark. “Aramark has consistently been a problem,” said Alexandra Dagg, Canadian Director of UNITE/HERE. “We had to have a strike vote at Scarborough campus to get them to treat the workers seriously […] That’s a pretty strong move to get attention.”
Aramark replaced Sodexho as the university’s main food service provider in 2006. Dagg says that the union’s relationship with the former company was better, and that supervisors at Aramark have treated workers poorly, not allowing some to take their scheduled, legally required breaks. Of most recent concern, however, is the company’s attempt to renege on the collective agreement it ratifi ed in November to pay Scarborough workers the same rate as workers downtown. Now, says UNITE/HERE, Aramark is refusing to implement the negotiated wage increases.
“We’re coming back to the university again because they were the ones who picked the client, and when Aramark doesn’t treat it’s workers properly, we say the university should get involved,” Dagg said, adding that the labour issue also strikes home with students. “You use our services, you eat food on campus, you buy coffee on campus, maybe you live in residence and have three meals a day that are made by these workers.”
VP external Dave Scrivener says that the UTSU supports the rally out of solidarity with the food service workers, but also because a number of student issues are at play. He gives Aramark credit for listening to student concerns on issues such as using local produce, but says the company has not addressed the lack of diversity of food options, the cafeteria hours that do not match student schedules (most cafeterias close by 6 p.m.), and what Scrivener calls Aramark’s “tradition of avoiding student hires.” After looking into their membership, Unite/Here says it cannot find a single student hired at St. George in food services.
“They’re not entirely evil, but there are concerns that we’ve had that we’ve brought up repeatedly, especially around diversity, that we haven’t seen addressed in a meaningful way,” Scrivener said.
Unite /Here has staged similar protests in the United States, where Aramark has faced a number of disputes with district school boards, universities, and state agencies on issues ranging from financial management to public health to poor treatment of workers. In one instance, the company, which is the largest food service provider in the U.S., was dismissed by the Philadelphia School District two years into a five-year contract after it burdened the district with a $7-million deficit.
Representatives from the university were not available for comment at press time.
