What is a food service maintenance worker?

I sweep, mop and throw trash. My job description also includes any “additional duties as assigned,” which can be anything like scrubbing out a corner with a Brillo pad. It is a loophole for management abuse.

Why do you think Ed was fired?

Because him and I are at the top of the list when it comes to not letting management step on you. They tried to make an example out of Ed to keep everyone complacent. They picked Ed because they found ways to get to him psychologically to make him act out, like coming at him aggressively from both sides.

Describe your work performance and record at Oberlin.

When I started working here I’d have given myself a B-plus. When I started my union activism my stances got me in trouble and I began to get harassed. The witch-hunt I’ve faced through the years has made me bitter.

Explain “witch-hunt.”

A part of our contract and a standard principle of union contracts is “progressive discipline,”

meaning managers should bring up issues with employees when they arise, and that disciplinary action escalates in steps. I haven’t gotten that. Instead, management has saved up a bunch of little infractions without notifying me and then dropped them all on me at once in disciplinary hearings.

My first suspension was for 10 days for cursing at a manager while two guys got five days each for fighting in the parking lot.

My inability to grieve or appeal my suspensions properly has robbed me of my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. They’ve taken everything away from me.

Have labor relations changed since Bon Appetit took over for Sodexho-Marriott?

Marriott wasn’t great, but Bon Appetit has been much worse. Bon Appetit’s been cited by the National Labor Relations Board for harassing union employees. Human Resources will say those people aren’t here, but that doesn’t mean the company vibe isn’t anti-union.

In fact, in my last protocol meeting, a union official said he’d heard a manager bragging about how she’d busted a union before.

Describe some recent confrontations you’ve had with management.

One time when I was working at Lord-Saunders I got some chemicals in my eyes and there wasn’t anything to flush them out with. After finding no supplies at Talcott, I ran to Dascomb and the manager Ellen McGee tried to keep me from using what they had there because it was for “her building.”

Another time, her husband Terry McGee gave me a “Heil Hitler” in the kitchen!

Before Christmas, when I was working at Dascomb, Ellen [McGee] got in my face with her finger, calling me “stupid” and a “dumbass” in front of students because I hadn’t aligned some milk cartons perfectly. She was reprimanded for this incident but never punished. Instead, I got reassigned to the DeCafe.

You’ve told me you feel you were punished for speaking on Ed’s behalf before Christmas?
Shortly after that was published I was sent outside to clean these big fryers in freezing cold weather without gloves. I don’t know why they had to be cleaned outdoors.

I’ve also been on a “punishment shift” practically since Bon Appetit got here. I’d like to work days and there are guys who’d like to work nights, but I’m assigned nights because they know I don’t want them.

I’m a DJ, but I’ve been unable to do shows since Bon Appetit put me on the night shift. Plus my newlywed wife works so I barely ever get to see her or my daughter.

If this is the case, why are you speaking to me now?

Because I’m not afraid. Why should I be afraid? I have a right to freedom of speech. Many of my co-workers are scared. I’ve asked them if they think their constitutional rights don’t apply in the workplace and about 90 percent of them don’t think they do.

As an employee and union member, what do you want?

Safety, comfort and respect, a definite job description and justice. It’s been my platform for six years.

Why should this matter to students?

Because [food] service is one of Oberlin’s dirty little secrets.

Whatever happened to learning and labor? I think it’s more like learning at the cost of labor. When I came to Oberlin the slogan “do you think one person can change the world” got me thinking I could be that person. But apparently this doesn’t apply to employees.

Interview by Ben Newhouse