SWOC continues union organizing drive

In the shadow of last week's student worker protest at Dascomb, the Student Worker Organizing Committee (SWOC) is continuing its efforts to unionize student workers at Oberlin.

According to college sophomore Libby Fleming, SWOC's spokesperson, the organization is currently getting signatures from student workers who support unionization. Once SWOC gathers a majority of student workers' signatures, they will be authorized to go to the College and ask for recognition. The College estimates that 1,150 students work for the College.

Fleming said that although they are already collecting signatures SWOC does not expect to gather very many until next semester. "We just started this week," Fleming said. "Our goal is to get all the Dascomb people before the end of the semester."

Fleming said students have been generally supportive and curious. "People want to know more. We are currently putting together a question and answer sheet," she said. "We don't want anyone signing without knowing what they are doing."

Organizers are planning to use two different authorization petitions. One, from the United Auto Workers (UAW), the union that currently represent Campus Dining Services (CDS) workers, is for workers who work alongside other UAW workers, largely CDS and janitorial workers.

The other petition is from the Office of Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), the union that represents mostly office and professional employees at the College. It will be used for students who work alongside OPEIU workers on campus.

Although many student workers are paid in part through the federal work-study program, it does not seem that this would affect their eligibility for unionization.

While some of the funding that supports these work-study positions does come from the government Oberlin already pays more than its share of work-study students' paychecks.

Director of Financial Aid Howard Thomas said theoretically the government pays 75 percent of work-study wages and the College 25 percent. "In reality we don't get nearly enough money," Thomas said.

Thomas said if the College were to pay student workers more, the difference would come out of the College budget. "The government isn't going to give us more money," he said.

Currently student workers are paid in accordance with a four-point grading system. Jobs are categorized from level I, which involves routine work with no leadership or decision-making, to level IV, which requires high accountability, special skills and independence. The starting wages range from $5.45 for a level I job to $6.15 for a level II job. Employers are also encouraged to offer a raise of ten cents per hour each semester.

Aida Reyes, assistant director of financial aid, said the campus-wide minimum wage, which is now $5.45, has historically been higher than the national minimum wage.

Next semester, CDS workers can look forward to even higher wages. The employer is scrapping the College grading system in order to offer higher wages to all its student workers. The largest increase will go to dish and pot washers and student mangers, who will earn 50 and 60 cents more per hour than they currently earn. Other workers will see increases of 30 and 40 cents.

Jenson said he hopes these increases will fill many of the open positions throughout CDS.

Fleming said she and other SWOC organizers see the wage increase as a management tactic to diffuse support for the union. "I think it is definitely a tactic to bring more workers in that don't have a background in CDS and don't want a union," she said. "We're not just looking for a raise or for prizes."

College senior Sara Marcus worked in the dining halls at Yale University and was part of the union there before she transferred to Oberlin. Marcus said the experience of being in a union was a positive one. She agreed unionization provides more than simply higher wages.

"When you are in a job that has a union you take that job more seriously because you are taken more seriously," she said.

Unionization also offers a more organized working environment for all workers, according to Marcus. "It sets up a clear chain of command and clear job descriptions," she said. "When I tell people at CDS that we had that at Yale, their eyes bug out."

Marcus said another advantage was the existence of shop stewards who mediate disputes between student workers and their managers.

While a handful of student workers are unionized around the country, Jenson said he knows of no Marriott facilities that have unionized student workers. But Oberlin dining facilities are unique in several regards. For one thing, CDS hires more student workers than many other college dining facilities run by Marriott.

According to Jenson, most other schools he knows of hire only a handful of students. "The closest another school comes is about 40 [students hired]," he said.

Jenson counts Oberlin lucky to have so many students working in the dining halls. For one thing, he said, student workers act as intermediaries between other students and the dining halls. "They might speak up for the dining halls when someone is complaining about them," he said.

Jenson also said the fact that student workers are willing to work a few hours here and there is a real advantage for scheduling since many of the positions last only as long as the meals are served.

If student workers were to win higher wages, the increase would come out of individual department and office budgets. Thomas explained that while all student workers receive checks from the College, the funding for student workers comes from individual departments and offices. For example, a dishwasher at Stevenson is paid from CDS's annual budget, while a Resident Coordinator is paid by the Department of Residential Life and Services.

Howard Thomas, director of Financial Aid, explained that departments are given a budget by the College to work with each fiscal year. Funds for student workers come out of these funds, even if they are work-study students.

"The departments pay 100 percent of the student workers' wages regardless of whether they are work-study," Reyes said.

Many College officials have been reluctant to come down on one side or the other on the unionzation issues.

"It's really up to students," said Sandy Hougland, director of Housing and Dining, which oversees CDS. "It's their decision."

Walk out: Senior John Edmonds leads the approximately 14 marchers at Monday's Dascomb protest. Many of the same students are supportive of SWOC's unionization drive. (photo by Noah Mewbourn)