By Brian Rudiger
One of the great things about a successful labor union campaign – beyond the material benefits and empowerment that the represented workers gain – is that there is a growth in the general dialogue about fairness in the workplace. Whether due to our own interest in workers’ rights or because of their effective demonstrations, the Justice for Janitors campaign of the past weeks has made all of us more aware of the struggle so many workers face just to provide for their families.
Now that the janitors have won a better contract, business owners and city officials are hoping the labor movement will quiet down for a while, at least until the Democratic National Convention in August.
The other people praying that we’ll stop caring about labor issues are the powers that be in the UCLA administration. Chancellor Albert Carnesale and company are just hoping that UCLA students do not start to look more closely at the current labor situation of so many of UCLA’s employees.
Because here is what we’ll find: 70 workers, who have worked for UCLA’s laundry facility for an average of 15 years, stand to lose their jobs because the university wants to save a few bucks. Rather than investing what, by its own estimate, is the $500,000 necessary to bring the facility up to speed, UCLA is about to turn the laundry over to a subcontractor. The well-being of more than 60 workers – more than 60 families – is now in serious danger because UCLA insists on putting profits before people.
The saddest part is that this is just an example of the general state of affairs at, what we are told, is a great place to work. For example, the Associated Students of UCLA deals with a subcontractor which supplies about 200 workers who staff ASUCLA facilities. On average, these men and women make between $6 and $6.50, without benefits. This type of situation is common for many more workers, ranging from the janitors in The Anderson School to many of the concessions workers.
The picture gets even gloomier when we look at how the university responds when confronted with its utter disrespect for its employees. “We are doing the best we can” and “we need to stay competitive” are the two of the most common responses that administrators give as to why so many people, who labor to keep this school running, are not getting their fair share.
Are we supposed to buy that? Why is it that Carnesale can spend so much of his (our) time raising money from rich alumni so that we can have the Ronald Reagan Medical Center, but he can’t devote enough time to figure out how we can pay our employees a fair wage? How is it that we can raise more than $1 billion in a few years, but we can’t manage to maintain the jobs of more than 60 laundry workers who have served the university for the better part of their lives? Why is it that Carnesale and other upper administrators are making record salaries while many rank-and-file UCLA workers have seen their standard of living drop?
The answer is in the priorities. It is more important for Carnesale to make UCLA look pretty on the outside than to make sure that those people who maintain the campus – the workers – get a living wage.
The other common response of “we need to stay competitive” is best seen in a recent Daily Bruin article (“Issues arise over hiring non-union janitors,” News, April 21). Was anyone the least bit shocked when business professor Alfred E. Osborne stated that the issue of fairness is irrelevant in how a worker is compensated? Osborne tells us that “any employer who pays more than what the market will bear is giving away value. The market tells you what a job is worth.” In other words, the men and women who clean Osborne’s office over at The Anderson School only deserve to be paid based on the cold workings of our economy.
Apparently, it doesn’t matter if $7 an hour is not enough to provide for one’s family; it doesn’t matter if medical insurance, higher education and a full meal often have to be forgone due to lack of funds. In Osborne’s view, the market determines not only what a job is worth but also what people are worth.
Fortunately, outside of the palace known as The Anderson School, most of us recognize that the issue of “fairness” is entirely relevant, and that all workers deserve dignity, respect and a living wage.
Aware of both their lack of sincere concern for how UC employees are compensated and their pitiful attempt at explaining this situation, Carnesale and the rest of the UCLA bureaucracy are betting that students will turn a blind eye to what is going on in and around our campus. They think we will not demand that the employees of this university be paid a wage they can actually live on. And they certainly believe that they can get rid of the more than 60 laundry workers without too much hassle. Let’s prove them wrong. Meet at Murphy Hall today at 6 p.m. for a vigil in support of the victims of the UCLA administration’s cruel ability to put profits before people.