Bon Appetit employees reinstated
By Matthew Meyerhofer
In a quick turnaround by food service administrators, Bon Appetit recently agreed to reinstate three of its workers amid protests and complaints from the university community.
Connie Leonard, Adelina Rodriguez and Union Steward Thomas English will be allowed to return to their original positions, but the rehiring process involved intense negotiations between Bon Appetit's management and Service Employees International Union 715 (SEIU), said Leah Berlanga, the local worksite organizer for SEIU.
Both Casey Enarson, Bon Appetit's district manager at Santa Clara, and Maisie Ganzler, a spokesperson at Bon Appetit's corporate offices in Menlo Park, declined to comment on individual issues.
Despite the reinstatements, workers and union members still have concerns about whether long-lasting changes will be made by Bon Appetit's management.
"At this point there are still issues that need to be taken care of, and there is a list of them. There are numerous issues," said Berlanga. "But I think now we are at the point where we can sit down with [Bon Appetit management]."
Berlanga said that the SEIU is reviewing actions taken by Bon Appetit management, some previously unknown to union leaders.
According to statements by some workers, some employees were asked to sign code of conduct in order to get their paycheck, something Berlanga called, if true, "unacceptable."
"We treat any allegations raised by a staff member very seriously, " Ganzler said. "We have a grievance process in place where issues may be addressed, and we believe that is the most effective and fair way to resolve conflict."
Berlanga said that although many of the workers and union representatives appreciate student efforts such as last month's protests, the key to empowering employees lies in building a more confident group of employees, including union stewards who feel that they can confront management themselves.
"They still feel vulnerable. They still feel like they're not empowered. But I think that by working with them and empowering them and showing them how to do it, they're going to change that," said Berlanga.
Some of the workers voiced concerns about Bon Appetit's management practices. Alberto Villanvera and Jose Trinidad, two of the cooks in Market Square, said that employees are often assigned to different jobs they were not hired to do.
Villanvera also said that management rarely fills the temporary vacancies left by employees who take personal days or call in sick, and that many positions are understaffed. For example, Trinidad said that in the mornings there is only one person to wash all of the dishes used at breakfast. These problems put stress on the employees, who feel like they are chronically short of workers, said Trinidad.
According to cashier Edy Madsen, Bon Appetit employees get a yearly raise of 30 cents per hour. Because the minimum wage is also always increasing to meet inflation, Madsen said that long time workers are only making one or two dollars more per hour than new employees.
"It's not enough," said Madsen. "It makes it harder to live."
In response to the concerns raised by students, workers, and union officials, AS in the process of drafting a resolution in support of the workers employed by Bon Appetit. While the exact wording will be modified, the Senate already passed the resolution unanimously.
The resolution, authored by freshman Senator Amparo Cid and former AS President Kristin Love, states that if Bon Appetit does not make certain changes in the way it handles its workers, Santa Clara should terminate their contract.
Patricia Wilkinson, who oversees dining contracts in the Santa Clara University's Finance Office, expressed that any specific complaints should be dealt with through the system set up by the contract between Bon Appetit and the union, which was approved by workers, union members, and Bon Appetit's management.
"There is a mechanism in place for responding to grievances," Wilkinson said, "And to the University's knowledge, these processes have not been utilized. "