Sounding an alarm on their megaphone and swarming into the
dining halls, around 40 members of the Student Worker Front
demonstrated Wednesday night in support of UCLA’s service
workers.
Starting shortly after 7 p.m., the students rushed from
cafeteria to cafeteria, chanting loudly and passing out
informational flyers as they walked in without paying.
“Our objective was to demonstrate to management that our
student support is only going to get more aggressive and grow in
numbers,” said Gustavo De Haro, a fourth-year psychology
student and a coordinator with the Student Worker Front. “And
we wanted to demonstrate to the workers that we are supportive of
their campaign for a fair contract.”
Service workers have been in contract negotiations with
management since June, and the American Federation of State County
and Municipal Employees, the union representing the workers, says a
strike is getting closer.
“We’ve said for a long time that there’s a
connection between workers’ fight for a chance to advance and
students’ fight for fair admissions and affordable
fees,” said Hays Witt, an organizer with AFSCME. “And
we’re glad that students see that connection.”
The student demonstrators began at De Neve dining hall and
finished at Hedrick, the only dining hall they were unable to enter
because they were confronted by dining management and police
blocking the doors.
Police authorities said the students were welcome to demonstrate
peacefully, but they were breaking the law by trespassing and
disturbing the peace when they entered the dining halls without
paying and using a siren.
The dining hall managers blocking the doors at Hedrick Hall
declined to comment. Speaking from her home, associate director of
dining services Connie Foster also declined to comment because she
said she wasn’t there.
Some of the workers seemed happy to have the student
support.
“We’re happy because we thought we were alone in
this,” said Alex Salvador, an assistant cook at Covel dining
hall, speaking through a translator. “We thank their courage
and bravery.”
Tales of the workers
Maria Vicente’s son shows her off. She said her son tells
people that she works for UCLA, and they think “wow,”
Vicente said, speaking through a Spanish translator.
Like many other food service employees, one of the reasons
Vicente said she began working for the university was because of
its prestigious image in the community.
But Vicente and other workers say UCLA hasn’t been living
up to its name, and deadlocked contract negotiations for better
wages and opportunities for advancement are pushing them closer to
walking out of the job.
“UCLA has pushed us to the limit where we’re not
seeing any changes,” said Marlen Calderon, a senior food
service worker at Bruin Cafe.
Calderon started working at UCLA in January 2001 and said she
likes the health benefits and location.
A graduate of Venice High School in West L.A., Calderon spent
two years at Santa Monica College but stopped because it got too
expensive. That’s when she started working at UCLA.
Calderon said she thought the university had such a great image
and that she would have the chance to advance, but recently, that
hasn’t been the case.
Speaking in the Covel dining hall during her 30-minute dinner
break, Calderon said she has been at the same level of work for
around four years. Her hopes are to eventually make enough money to
go back to school and study to be an X-ray technician.
“They haven’t put out something where you could,
say, advance yourself. It seems like instead of helping us out,
they seem to be pulling us back,” Calderon said.
Martha Torres, also a food service worker at Bruin Cafe, said
she is hoping for a better contract that pays higher wages and
gives room for advancement and conditions that do not strain the
staff.
“Right here, this is like a fast food restaurant. When
we’re low on staff, we have to do what two or three people
do,” she said.
Torres has three children and said she is a
“60-percenter,” meaning that each week, she is only
guaranteed 60 percent of the full 40-hour week.
She said she has been at 60 percent for over four years and that
she has often asked for the assurance of full-time employment but
has been denied.
AFSCME said many of the workers on the Hill are guaranteed less
than 100 percent employment, a condition they’re trying to
improve in the new contract by creating a system of
advancement.
Torres said she is ready to strike for a better contract because
she wants to earn more money for her family.
“They eat a lot; I can barely make it,” she said
about her three children. “I don’t know how to say no
to them. They’re good kids. I can’t make it on this
salary.”