ASUCLA breaks agreement with subcontractor, will hire janitors directly
By Jamie Hsiung
May 20, 2003 9:00 p.m.
The Associated Students of UCLA will be hiring several full-time
janitorial workers in August, after deciding to end its agreement
with their subcontractor one year before the contract expires.
Though the association is still negotiating the details of the
termination with subcontractor Metro, ASUCLA has received
“verbal indication that the early termination won’t be
a problem,” said ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia
Eastman.
As full-time employees, the anticipated 12 janitorial workers
from Metro will receive complete benefits including health
insurance, Eastman said.
The ASUCLA Board of Directors discussed hiring the workers last
year when a board member pointed out that non-ASUCLA employees were
working on student union premises.
“People were interested in having us hire, directly,
individuals who were working here on a regular basis; it was our
board’s philosophy,” Eastman said.
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees
is also pleased to hear of the association’s decision to
terminate their contract early.
“AFSCME is encouraged by ASUCLA’s decision to end
its contract with Metro Building Maintenance,” according to a
statement from AFSCME.
But AFSCME then added that “the real victory is when all
workers at UCLA have good union jobs.”
Alfredo Gomez, an ASUCLA worker at Café Synapse and a
volunteer organizer for AFSCME, said through an interpreter that
the hiring is a “triumph for the workers at UCLA.”
“I hope that they’ll have the same benefits and
treatment that we’ve been able to win,” he said.
The five-year contract with Metro, a janitorial contractor
serving to clean up various ASUCLA facilities, was originally
supposed to end in August 2004.
Though ASUCLA subcontracts to Metro, the association only
provides instructions to the organization for what needs to be
done; ASUCLA does not supervise them, Eastman said.
ASUCLA is currently organizing and developing new procedures and
schedules as to when the night- time cleaning will be done.
Newly-created positions will be filled in mid-August, Eastman
said.
Ackerman Union janitorial worker Saustino Bautista, who has a
wife, a daughter and a son on the way, said through an interpreter
that the hiring will help the workers out immensely.
“I’m very happy because our lives are going to be
better,” Bautista said. “I’m hoping we’ll
have at least better pay and better treatment for my
family.”
With the addition of the 12 janitorial workers and a supervisor
budgeted for next year, ASUCLA will need to spend $100,000 next
year to pay for the employees.
Though the ASUCLA board of directors has not approved the budget
yet, Eastman said she is “confident it will go
through.”
The board will be approving the budget at its last meeting of
the year on May 23.
But the $100,000 will be an additional financial burden to
ASUCLA, which has already been grappling with the cost of hiring 80
unionized workers last year. The hiring of the 80 workers amounted
to $800,000.
Last year, the 80 workers became full-time ASUCLA employees
after five months of rallying, combined with negotiations between
the association and AFSCME.
Eastman said the association currently doesn’t have an
answer as to how ASUCLA is prepared to deal with the additional
$100,000 cost.
“We’re currently working on that right now,”
she said, adding that they are still in the process of negotiating
contract termination with Metro.
Dria Fearn ““ who serves on the board’s finance
committee ““ said that increasing the student union fee,
“even nominally,” would help alleviate the problem.
“Unfortunately, our business model wasn’t designed
to help pay for low-waged workers, but that’s still something
we’re doing,” Fearn said.
“We’re committed to maintaining the level of
integrity that the university and association ought to have,”
she added.
