What it means to be a student in Local No. 35

By Yuka Igarashi

Imagine that you are a member a club whose meetings you've never attended. Imagine, further, that you have to pay a significant sum of money every month to be in this club—and that you can't quit.

This is a familiar story to any Yale student who works in the University's dining halls. Because Dining Services operates as a closed shop, all workers are required to be members of the labor union Local No. 35. As a result, students give up $23 in dues from their paychecks every month. All the while, they remain largely in the dark about goings-on at their union.

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH Students serve you every day as members of the Local No. 35. But how much protection do they receive?

A group of students, however, are looking to change this situation. Victor Corona, DC '03, and Anamaria De La Cruz, SM '02, are among those making efforts to get student employees more involved and better informed about where their money is going.

Corona is working to institute a more formal system of representation. According to the most recent contract agreement between Local 35 and Yale University, reached in 1996, each dining hall is permitted one student steward who can attend union meetings and represent the needs of student employees. Largely because of a lack of interest, however, the procedure remained unutilized. Though stewards have existed in the past, they operated as individual volunteers without an effective system to support them. Eric Uscinsky, Director of Human Resources at Yale Dining Services, explained that there was no one to actually enforce the policy. "And it's one of those things that if no one actively works to enforce it, it doesn't really happen," he said. Currently, only two stewards exist for all dining halls combined—Corona himself is serving informally as the representative for Davenport College.

However, Corona is championing a new arrangement in which elections for stewards would be held in every dining hall. This measure would also build regular communication with union negotiators. In fact, a group has already met with Bob Proto, President of Local 35 to discuss some of these issues. The monthly fees are at the top of the list of priorities: currently, there is an initiative to prorate the dues, basing the amount deducted each month on the number of hours that a student works. Because students are part-time employees, this would cause a significant difference in the dues levied.

The reforms also propose to increase student awareness about their rights as workers. "Until recently, students didn't even know they were entitled to a free meal during their shift, that they are supposed to receive a 50-cents-an-hour wage every six months, or that they must be paid overtime for working seven days in a row," Corona said. "Involvement in the union would ensure that these rights would be protected on a day-to-day basis."

Establishing involvement and interest, however, may be difficult among students who have become accustomed to an indifferent union. "Not once since the year I've been working have I been contacted by student representatives to ask me if there's anything I felt deserved discussion," Chrissy Kournioti, DC '02, said. "We just need to work at the dining hall and they tell you that to do so you must be part of the union—so you just sign the form and don't really think about it."

Ezra Stiles dining hall worker Yee-min Lin, ES '00, similarly emphasized the current lack of communication. "One time, the [union] took out $46 because they missed a month somewhere; we never know when the unions are going to do stuff on us, and as far as I know, the representation system for students isn't all that great, and we just don't care enough to really do anything about it." Min also explained that, because the job is pays well in comparison with other jobs on campus, many view the dues as an inevitable opportunity cost.

Corona and his group understand that the biggest challenge is to generate enough collective interest to make a difference. As in any movement, it is quantity that matters. "Any union is based on the strength of its members and how actively they are involved in building their union," he said. "The union will be as strong as we make it."

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