By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer

Editor’s note: in a news article published last week titled “CWJ hosts rally to continue pushing for in-house food and cleaning contracts,” we wrote that SFU contracts dining service workers through Chartwells Canada. Chartwells is a subdivision of Compass — the company mentioned in this piece.

As the calendar shifts into the new year, the SFU dining and cleaning staff’s push for better pay continues. In late January, UNITE HERE Local 40, the union representing food staff on campus, began negotiating a new contract for its members. SFU contracts dining hall workers through the food service company Compass. This means food workers are outsourced and Local 40 is negotiating with Compass, not SFU.

The Peak spoke with union organizer Kyra Gauthier, a Local 40 organizer, for more information. While Contract Worker Justice @SFU (CWJ) has been fighting to “end the outsourcing of food and cleaning services at SFU” by demanding in-house contracts, Gauthier said “wages are the main point of contention almost all the time” for Local 40. In a statement to The Peak, Local 40 campaigner Nate Holers explained that the union would “welcome in-house contracts with SFU if it meant securing the wage increases and benefits [workers] deserve.” Holers added that an increase in wages “would likely be the case” if SFU were to switch to in-house contracts, citing contracts at UBC.

In July 2022, SFU announced they would move toward becoming a certified “living wage employer.” Living Wage BC defines a living wage as “the hourly amount that someone needs to earn to meet their basic expenses (including rent, food, and transportation) once government taxes, credits, deductions, and subsidies are taken into account.” The living wage for Metro Vancouver is $27.05.

Despite SFU’s transition to a living wage, “a lot of the workers were really shocked” when they noticed the change in their paychecks. “They fought for that living wage, they got it, then they got their paycheck, which is $22.60,” said Gauthier. 

“The big push is to get to that living wage value without any of these deductions.” — Kyra Gauthier, organizer, UNITE HERE Local 40 union

The discrepancy between this number and the Metro Vancouver living wage lies in Living Wage BC’s definition. The organization states that a living wage can decrease when benefits are paid for by the employer. Gauthier explained that when SFU’s living wage shift occurred, Compass “gave the worker a bump to $22.60,” but the remaining $4.45 that would push employees to $27.05 was directed towards benefits and pension. “That all gets deducted from that living wage total,” Gauthier explained. The $4.45 workers should receive as their wage should be “coming out of Compass’ pocket,” she said.

“On paper, [SFU is] a living wage employer — they haven’t done anything that they weren’t supposed to do, but morally, it’s not really the right thing to do for the workers,” Gauthier explained. “It’s not inherently wrong what they did, it’s just the way that the living wage is calculated should be changed,” Gauthier added.

In a statement to The Peak, SFU reiterated that “the living wage takes into account the total compensation package including wages and the value of non-mandatory benefits such as paid sick leave, vacation leave, education benefits, and extended health and dental coverage. As outlined by Living Wage BC, employer-paid benefits reduce out-of-pocket costs for families, which reduces the hourly rate needed to meet family expenses.”

In a press release from January, SFU stated that specific benefits include “a tuition waiver program” as well as “access to recreation and fitness facilities, library borrowing privileges, and priority access to on-site childcare at Burnaby campus through the SFU Childcare Society.” In last week’s interview with The Peak, Cristina Figueroa, CWJ campaign research assistant, stated “food and cleaning employees don’t ‘benefit from the same services as other staff, such as childcare, parking, they don’t even get Wi-Fi on campus.’” The Peak was not able to obtain more details about childcare benefits.

“The big push is to get to that living wage value without any of these deductions. $27.05 and the employer pays all of your benefits and your pension, which is how it’s supposed to be,” said Gauthier. “We’re very hopeful that we will push for a very strong contract this year.”

This is a story that The Peak will continue to cover.