By: Mason Mattu, Section Editor
On November 5, SFU’s contracted food service employees took their lunch break collectively to stage a demonstration, demanding a living wage and improved working conditions. Employees from Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Mackenzie Café, the Dining Commons, and catering participated, holding signs and banging drums as they walked around the perimeter of strand hall, SFU’s administrative building.
Workers delivered a letter asking SFU president Joy Johnson to meet with them on November 10 at 6:00 p.m. to hear their concerns. The workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 40, said they are open to arranging another time with Johnson, for now just wanting to hear from her by Monday.
They added that if they don’t hear back from Johnson or SFU by Monday at 6:00 p.m., they would initiate a full strike. “Today was just a strike action. An actual strike is pending,” said Preet Sangha, Local 40 union representative.
On Friday, November 7, SFU stated that “the university has responded to their letter and declined their offer to meet. Terms and conditions of their employment, including rate of pay, are matters between employees and their employers.” They added, “It would not be appropriate for SFU leadership to discuss those matters, or to comment on ongoing collective bargaining between an SFU-contracted vendor and their employees.”
In terms of the living wage, SFU stated “the university negotiates contracts with its service providers to ensure contract workers earn a living wage, based on living wages for Families BC’s rate at the time of negotiation. ”
SFU does not directly employ food service staff — they are employed by a third-party contractor, Chartwells (a sector of Compass). However, union representatives and community members have argued that the university has a responsibility as a living wage employer to either uphold their values and pay a living wage, or bring the food service employees in-house. Living Wage BC sets the living wage for Metro Vancouver at $27.05. At SFU Burnaby, the highest wage listed in Chartwells’ food service job postings at the time of publication is $23.58.
Mitch Hoganson, a senior supervisor in the dining services and catering department who was present at the rally, told The Peak that although the contractor had offered to go to mediation with the workers, none of the proposals were in “good faith.”
“Our real fight is with SFU.” He added, “UVic, UBC, and even the government of BC have brought food service workers in-house.”
“SFU has the opportunity to do the right, ethical thing. They can showcase to the world that they are the university they claim to be, instead of being a university of hypocrisy.”
— Mitch Hoganson, senior supervisor of dining services and catering
“We want a living wage,” one striking worker said. “Some summers, we get laid off. December, we get laid off. The benefits are not good.”
“When inflation continues to rise, people’s wages are standing at a standstill. How do people survive? How do people [take care of their] kids and families? How do people pay their bills? The majority of workers here probably have two to three jobs and barely sleep,” Felisha Perry, an individual in attendance, told The Peak. “So, yeah, I think [food service employees] frickin’ deserve a liveable wage! 100%.”
In the case of a food services strike, SFU stated Chartwells “has contingency plans in place to ensure essential services can operate, such as reduced service for meal plan holders in Dining Commons.”
