ASUCLA exploits workers, denies job security, sick time

Martinez is a third-year international development studies and
Latin American studies student.

By Jessica E. Martinez

It’s ironic that an institution which provides education
to enhance the knowledge and well-being of its community can
simultaneously neglect the needs of its employees ““ but UCLA
has managed to do this.

Starting in 1995, the Associated Students of UCLA began to
subcontract jobs to temporary workers. These food service and
maintenance workers get minimum wage or a little above it, and are
denied health benefits, sick time, job security and vacation.
Permitting and subjecting honest and decent employees to scarce
living conditions is unacceptable among an institution that
emphasizes its quality and integrity. ASUCLA needs to establish a
reciprocity that is balanced and compensates these workers for
their long hours of work.

ASUCLA needs to recognize that many of these employees travel up
to three hours on the bus each day to get to UCLA to clean our
eateries, cook our food, and pick up our trash. Many have a limited
relationship with their own children because they get home just in
time to tuck them into bed at night. Unfortunately, because of the
unstable job security these employees face, most fear the day any
of their children get sick. Attending to their children’s
needs requires a day off, and these workers run the risk of losing
their job.

Now ask yourself if this is morally right? Of course not. It is,
however, what ASUCLA is allowing.

“I feel as if we are still living in an age of
slavery,” said Wilfredo Rodriguez, a former employee of
ASUCLA restaurants. He was fired for missing a few days of work in
order to assist his wife when she was sick. Even more troubling is
Rodriguez isn’t the only one to face these injustices.

Although most of the employees are called temporary workers, the
majority of them have worked for ASUCLA for more than two years.
Sigifredo Flores, a temp employee, has worked at various campus
restaurants for more than 10 years and has yet to take any vacation
time. However, having a vacation is the last worry on his mind. He
simply hopes to not get sick, which would require him to miss days
at work, and that certainly would be grounds for him to be
fired.

Allowing notoriously exploitative employers to treat their
workers unjustly and immorally, ASUCLA does not properly
demonstrate their allocation of funds, but rather their violation
of human rights. These “temp” workers are highly
exploited. They are underpaid, overworked and generally denied
benefits and basic employment rights. By subcontracting these jobs,
ASUCLA tries to relieve itself from the responsibility of providing
decent living wages to its employees. But under that mask, they are
only perpetuating poverty and sweatshop-like conditions.

Flores came to this country to work hard and escape poverty but
with his low wage and the steadily rising prices in this country,
he finds himself struggling to simply buy a carton of milk.
“With our long hours of hard work, we deserve at least living
wages that will help us survive,” Flores said.

Regardless of employment contracts, all UCLA employees ““
including those employed by ASUCLA ““ should be treated
equally and fairly. Considering the hard and strenuous working
conditions of these employees, they should be liable to the same
rights.

By subcontracting out for labor, ASUCLA is exposing members of
its community to unjustifiable inequality and disrespect. They need
to recognize that these jobs do not just provide their employees
with some extra pocket cash; instead, their livelihood depends on
this income.

In order for ASUCLA to live up to its reputation as a
representation of the UCLA student body that serves its employees
with dignity, respect and justice, it needs to recognize the
workers’ efforts to organize and improve their current
conditions. We need to support the right of these individuals to
obtain decent living wages, benefits and the most fundamental of
rights ““ respect.