Several incidents in the past few weeks point to Washington University’s weak commitment to its housekeeping and custodial workers. More attention needs to be paid to the basic rights and wishes of these workers, who provide key services that keep this campus a clean place to live, work and learn. Without them, I daresay this place would not look and feel as pleasant as it does both on the exterior and inside the dorms and classrooms.
African American housekeepers on the South 40 have recently expressed concern about equal treatment and hiring practices.
They arrive early in the morning to begin cleaning our bathrooms and common spaces, yet only receive roughly two weeks of vacation a year. Some of these workers, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their positions, also questioned recent hiring tactics employed by their managers. According to several of these workers, the hiring was directed at a specific group of individuals, and they felt they were not notified in the proper channels so they could let friends and associates know about the openings.
African American workers also expressed complaints about the fact that their Bosnian co-workers get to participate in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes three times a week for one hour. Currently, no classes for advancement purposes are offered to them.
All of the above incidents have led to increased tensions between Bosnian workers, who make up a majority of the residential housekeeping staff, and African American housekeepers, who feel they are not being treated equally.
Curt Harres, who manages the housekeeping staff for the residential side of campus, noted that his office door is always open, and he wants to hear from his subordinates to ensure that they are pleased with their work experience. He pointed to the fact that meetings were held in the past with his superiors to address some of the concerns of the workers, and that his overall goal is to promote a more diverse staff.
On the other side of campus, thirty-six custodial workers are being forced to return to their native Central American countries after the University ended its contract with their employer, G&G Building Services. University officials and G&G have offered little to no explanation of why the contract was terminated to the workers or even the students trying to help them stay in the country.
In the end, all of these incidents are bigger than one manager, one outside contractor, or even one worker. They point to a larger problem: The University is not forthcoming with its custodial and housekeeping workers, and the system of contracting for these services to outside companies does little to protect the rights of the workers.
While some of the housekeeping staffers are unionized, those that work on the residential side of campus are not, which does not give them the opportunity to have an organized strike to air their grievances if they so desire.
After the multi-week strike and lock out between grocery workers and their employers at Schnucks, Dierbergs, and Shop-n-Save, it became clear that students were passionate about supporting the cause of the workers. Many students did not patronize these stores and the Student Union Senate made efforts to have the shuttle route changed so that it would not have to cross the picket line.
A burning question remains though: What are we as students doing to reach out to workers closer to our own lives? An ad-hoc group of students has been working with the displaced Nicaraguan custodial workers, but that seems to be the extent of our involvement in such issues. Maybe you care and maybe you don’t, but once I realized these workers were unsatisfied, it became clear that this problem merits the attention of students and possibly more importantly, administrators who broker these contracts with outside employers in the first place.