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The Aramark Campaign: About AWSA
Our coalition consisted of the following groups: Yalla, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Organization of Black Students (OBS), Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL), Southside Solidarity Network, Graduate Students United (GSU), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS), Jewish Action, Amnesty, and STAND.
Workers demanded fair hours and wages, respect from management in the workplace, and improved working conditions to ensure worker safety. For the complete list of demands, click here.
As students at the University of Chicago and the primary consumers of Aramark's product, we decided to use our unique position to effect change on campus. Our goal was to send both the university and Aramark a clear message that every person contributing to campus life deserves equitable treatment and respect. SOUL was one of the founding members of AWSA.
On Saturday, May 3rd, AWSA held its first worker-student meeting. Breaking into small groups, workers and students began to pull together a list of concerns and grievances plaguing the workplace. Among the issues discussed were those concerning wages, disregard of seniority by management when deciding hours, failure to implement wage increases mandated by the contract, constant revision of schedules, inadequate staffing, and chronic overwork. More generally, workers spoke of a blatant lack of respect by management, racial tensions in the workplace, and difficulties regarding the process for filing grievances. Students and workers began compiling the above concerns into a concrete list of demands to be presented to Aramark.
Students also began a campaign of solidarity actions, such as banner drops in all three of the dining halls and button days. A petition containing an abbreviated version of the demands was drafted, and students began collecting signatures at the dining halls and around campus. In addition to collecting over 550 signatures, the petition drive also offered an opportunity to publicize the campaign on campus and pass out solidarity buttons. As we accumulated signatures, we began to send weekly delegations of students to turn in petitions to the management office. As AWSA gained support and confidence, By the end of the academic school year we had orchestrated banner drops in all three of the dining halls and organized two well-attended rallies.
After a summertime lull, the AWSA campaign picked up momentum again in the fall of the 2008-09 school year. With the contract already in negotiation, pressure from AWSA became even more critical.
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