AFSCME Local 3299 demonstrates against unfair working conditions, outsourcing

This post was updated April 6 at 11:59 p.m.

Many dining staff protested outside Bruin Plate on Wednesday holding signs that read “Union Jobs Now,” “Safe Staffing Now” and “No Contracting Out.”

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 is one of the University of California’s largest employee unions, representing more than 27,000 workers including custodians, dining hall staff, patient care technical workers, skilled craft workers and other service positions. They protested outside B Plate against staffing shortages, poor working conditions and outsourcing of jobs to contractors.

The dining staff chanted, “What do we want? Full-time jobs!” said Michael Kile, an external organizer for the union.

In addition, there was an altercation at B Plate between the police and students who were engaging with the protesters, Kile said. The officer refused to give his badge number, he added.

Kile said the officer became aggressive toward students, although he initially arrived to speak with the dining hall manager.

UCPD arrived at the demonstration in response to two calls for service, UCLA spokesperson Bill Kisliuk said in an emailed statement. He added that no one was arrested or detained.

Protesters dispersed from B Plate at 12:30 p.m.

A second protest occurred Wednesday afternoon, in which protesters walked and drove from Parking Structure 8 past B Plate, Murphy Hall and the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. Participants in the second protest honked the horns of cars adorned with the same messages as the B Plate protest. ​​The second protest ended at 5 p.m.

A total of approximately 145 workers were present at both protests combined.

Janeth Esmeralda Vasquez, lead organizer of the union at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, said poor planning by the university led to staffing shortages.

Vasquez said that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university implemented a freeze on new hires and paid people to leave their positions through a voluntary separation program. Around August, the university notified the union of 200 job vacancies for dining hall positions created by the hiring freeze and separation program, she added.

“When the students started coming back, they (UCLA) finally realized that there was a shortage in staffing,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez also said UCLA management often told the union that people did not want to work or that it was hard to recruit staff in the current job market. The union provided candidates for vacant positions but many faced long wait times in their hiring process, she said.

University representatives have met with AFSCME Local 3299 multiple times to work together to fill job openings on campus for service positions, Kisliuk said in an emailed statement.

“The university is in full compliance with its contract with AFSCME, including in regard to contracting out for covered services,” Kisliuk said.

Andrew Martinez, a senior custodian at UCLA and executive board member of the union, said understaffing has also created issues for custodians. He said custodians normally clean 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of space but are now asked to clean upwards of 30,000 to 40,000 square feet.

The extra workload creates stress for custodians and affects the cleanliness of classrooms, Martinez said.

“That’s not saying that we’re not doing the best that we can,” Martinez said. “But when you’re so short staffed, … there are things that are not going to be able to be done.”

Martinez said UCLA has failed to hire contracted workers for official UC positions. Although these workers have been contracted by the university for years, employment exams conducted in English remain a barrier to their official employment status, he also said.

“If they don’t pass that exam, they’re not hired,” Martinez said. “We had an applicant who when we did our follow up (with them) had informed us that they were told, ‘If you cannot speak English, how do you expect to work here?’”

Some of these currently contracted workers have more than 20 years of experience, but their English abilities are not up to UCLA’s standards, Vasquez said.

Martinez said working at UCLA with students is something he takes pride in, adding that he wants to secure safe working conditions, achieve appropriate staffing levels, and retire with a sense of dignity.

“Without the students, without having the campus community or the hospital community, there is no us,” he said. “It is very important that all of this is to further having a safe and healthy working condition for all of us.”