http://horus.vcsa.uci.edu/article.php?id=4351

Labor Disputes Continue With Subcontractors
Accusing subcontractors of racism, students called for UCI to hire workers directly.
by: Stella Cho
Student protestors circled the flagpoles at noon, waved picket signs and heatedly chanted their disapproval of the maltreatment of UC Irvine’s minority workers on Jan. 17. Protestors claimed that UC Irvine’s employee subcontractors–Aramark, a food and facility management corporation, and Commercial Landscaping Service, a company that hires property caretakers–were exploiting workers and not providing health benefits due to racism. The university’s administration was also labeled under this category.

Several on-campus organizations that collectively hosted this event were Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan, African Student Union, Kababayan, American Indian Student Association, Muslim Student Union, Asian Pacific Student Alliance, Associated Students of UCI and a number of graduate students.

Representatives from almost every group gave speeches during the hour-long strike that demonstrated their support for the workers. The popular idea was that fighting off these large subcontractors was like fighting a war, and everyone agreed, “We must stop this!�

Guest speaker and former congressional candidate Steve Young asserted his support for workers.

“We need to stand as a group against injustice,� Young said. “No American should work 40 hours a week and live below poverty level. That is un-American. It’s time for our country to come together to back the people of this country for a decent wage, decent conditions, decent working, decent living, health insurance and it’s not happening. Everyone says there is no time for a union, that it’s passed, but we see all our jobs going overseas. That’s because employers will go anywhere they can to get $2 wages. We need to stand together for the people who are trying to make it in this world.�

Speakers and students alike viewed this rally not only as a minority struggle, but as a struggle that crosses all color lines and affects all students, citizens and workers. Some students felt that participation in the rally was just the beginning of repaying and showing gratitude to the UCI employees for beautifying and maintaining the campus.

Carla Osorio, a second-year psychology and social behavior major and the community and labor chair of MEChA, commented that students should support struggling minorities.

“Students are always academic, but we also have to be socially responsible,� Osorio said. “We’re living in this world so we need to give back. We need to care about our people because in the next four years, we’re going to be working in society, too. That’s why the student government is supporting the minority students.�

Dolores Huerta, former UC Regents, labor leader and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, shared a story about the ignorance of the university board.

“When I would talk about the rights of workers, [the board] didn’t have a clue what I was talking about,� Huerta said. “This university does not have a code of conduct of how to treat their workers, and it is wrong because this university was built for the working people in the state of California. This university belongs to the taxpayers of California. ... I remember that board meeting [in which] the chancellor was scolded because he brought the workers under the union directly so they could get the benefits. And it’s more than just the benefits. It’s the voice and the representation and dignity. This is the workers’ need, and they need an organization to defend them.�

At one point, Chancellor Michael Drake strolled past the flagpoles behind Huerta during her speech and was welcomed with a loud chorus of “boos.� Huerta, who attended a similar rally last quarter at UCI, encouraged the crowd.

“We’re going to win, and it’s a matter of time,� Huerta said. “You already feel stronger, don’t you?�

The cheering students grew restless as Huerta ended her speech with a story of her recent visit to Venezuela to work with President Hugo Chávez. She proudly explained that she “saw the cooperatives being built for the workers, the factories ... saw the free health and dental clinics, agriculture cooperatives, the kind of projects that are trying to end the gangs and violence in that community.� She explained that “these are things that we dream about and they are actually doing it.�

The crowd ended their rally by picketing for 20 minutes outside of the Pippin dining hall located in Middle Earth Housing.

Michael Scott, an electrician and contractor at UCI who is not affiliated with a union, viewed the situation regarding minority workers in a different light.

“[Teenagers] always want to point the finger and say, ‘Well, these people have to treat these people a lot better,’ but they themselves don’t do it,� Scott said.

Scott made the argument that minority workers may not be paid a lot, but they are nonetheless content that they even have a job.

“There are more Hispanics and Orientals doing menial jobs because that’s what they do in their own countries if they’re lucky enough to have that,� Scott said. “They come over here for any opportunity whatsoever, and get whatever job that they can find, live multiple people to one household. Kids do not want to work. They want to complain. ... They don’t want to look at everything. The people at Pippin aren’t complaining. They’ve got a job.�

Protestors hope that the administration will eventually stop subcontracting their employees and instead become unionized like UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UCLA, USC, the Claremont Colleges and Pitzer.