Kanchi Uttamchandani | Assistant News Editor
Featured image: Real Food, Real Jobs coalition got soaked in their mock graduation ceremony rally last Thursday. | Amir Yazdanparast
Convocation may be a formal ceremony to award degrees to graduating students, but York’s activists had other ideas in mind. The Real Food, Real Jobs coalition presented campus food service workers with degrees to draw attention to their working conditions, including Doctorates of Economic, Human and Culinary Sciences.
The Real Food, Real Jobs coalition, or RFRJ, which advocates on behalf of service workers, distributed leaflets outside convocation, culminating in a mock graduation ceremony. The demonstration was to highlight the labour conditions of food service workers, who are often stuck in a cycle of poverty wages, disrespect and alleged racism at the hands of management.
Karen Cutler, spokesperson for Aramark, disagrees, saying that Aramark employs more than a quarter of a million people and operates everywhere with the highest regard for all of its employees. “We do not tolerate harassment, bias or discrimination of any kind,” says Cutler.
Meanwhile, RFRJ activist Melissa Sobers maintains that the workers’ demands, such as living wages, respect, dignity and an anti-oppressive work environment, are targeted toward York more so than Aramark, even though Aramark is the company they will be bargaining with.
“These atrocities are being allowed to occur on campus. York administration is the client hiring Aramark to handle workers in this way and [allows] paying poverty wages so that it can […] remain the ‘social justice university’ that it is known as,” asserts Sobers.
York spokesperson Barbara Joy confirms the university works closely with vendors to ensure they are meeting the community’s expectations and aligning with the university’s values.
“While we are not directly responsible for the workers, we are monitoring the situation closely,” she says. “Aramark is responsible for all aspects of employment and labour relations in connection with its workforce.”
York is aware that some of Aramark’s employees have expressed concerns about their employer, according to Joy. “Aramark’s employees are unionized and have various avenues available to them if they experience issues in their workplace.”
“Food service workers play a huge role in the lives of students by keeping us fed, hydrated and thus, able to focus on our studies,” says Parmbir Gill, member of the Osgoode Hall Law Union.
“We attended Thursday’s rally to return the favour, putting both Aramark and the York administration on notice that as students, we stand with the workers in their fight for a living wage and dignified working conditions,” adds Gill.
A key challenge facing the event organizers was dealing with alleged management intimidation toward workers who wished to participate in the action. Sobers claims that management had allegedly threatened disciplinary action if workers were caught engaging in the action.
“Workers who did join us were using their legal break times or came after their shift,” says Sobers.
Cutler says this information is inaccurate. “All Aramark did was remind the union of the mutually agreed upon collective bargaining contract clause which remains in effect, as governed by the Ministry of Labour, that does not allow for walkouts, stoppages of work, sit-downs or slowdowns or picketing that could interfere with providing service to our customers at York while a collective agreement is in place,” she states.
Cutler explains the collective agreement means that employees who were scheduled to work at the time of the rally were required to report to and remain at work during their scheduled shifts, while employees who were not scheduled to work were free to participate in the rally on their own time outside of work.
In the meantime, rumours swell of a potential strike for food service workers in the event that Aramark does not agree to the union’s demands.
“The first day of negotiations with Aramark is going to be on November 10,” says Daniel Bastien, organizer with UNITE Local 75 representing hospitality workers in the GTA.
“Based on how negotiations go, we’ll re-assess our course of action on campus,” he adds.
“While we do not negotiate in public through the media or third parties, I can tell you that we continue to negotiate in good faith and are committed to reaching an agreement that works for everyone,” says Cutler.
Meanwhile, RFRJ collected 2,000 signatures from the York community and delivered a petition to the president’s office, demanding fair working conditions for food workers and to bring healthy and sustainable food options to campus.
