Bon Appétit employs all Campus Dining Services workers — the staff at Stevenson, Dascomb, DeCafe, Lord/Saunders and the Rathskeller — and the majority of permanent employees are members of one of three unions on campus. The contract of one of these unions, the United Auto Workers, is up for renegotiation come October, bringing long-standing tensions between union workers and Bon Appétit into renewed focus.

Hiring and management practices are at the center of workers’ concerns. Some union employees suspect that Bon Appétit is attempting to circumvent union contracts by increasing the number of student workers and bringing in temporary workers who don’t require benefits or continuous employment. The barrage of e-mails soliciting employment to past CDS student workers suggests that the demand for benefit-free labor remains high. The opening of Azariah’s, an entirely student-operated café, seems in line with this trend.

Regarding management practices, workers complain about how they are treated by managers, feeling unnecessarily watched, rarely thanked, rushed on breaks and generally treated in a disrespectful manner. Workers commented in particular on impressions of management’s hands-off approach to conflict resolution between employees. In-fighting is commonly recognized, particularly in Dascomb and Stevenson, and managers’ failure to smooth out these rough relations does little to dispel concerns that Bon Appétit has anti-union sentiments. One anonymous CDS worker viewed management’s passivity as an encouragement for the union to “destroy itself.”

Most employees feel compelled to talk but are afraid to jeopardize their jobs. Each one we talked to asked that his or her name not be used.

Bon Appétit recently held a sensitivity meeting for workers and management with the perceived intent of addressing the need for good relations between workers and students; workers and workers; and workers and management. This meeting might be interpreted as a sign that all is not well between labor and management.

Multiple workers expressed that they felt as though they were treated better under Sodexho Marriott employment, Bon Appétit’s predecessor. As students, we proved through protest that we have recourse when we drove out Marriott in response to its poor investments. If the student body becomes aware that its current food service company is engaging in socially irresponsible business practices, we can and will act according to our ideals and use the power of our voice.

Unions are essential for safeguarding the rights of workers to fair compensation.  It’s ridiculous that in a place like Oberlin these workers who are the sustenance of the college would ever have to worry about such a thing as job security.