Subcontracting getting results-but at what cost?

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH SWING SHIFT: Students rave about subcontracted workers in the Swing Space, but Local 35 claims Yale is using Fusco for cheap labor.

Swing space custodial workers appear to be putting in long hours. "It seems like they're always sweeping the stairways," Thomas Pearson, BK '01, said. "I know there are lots of stairs, but the same man who sweeps the stairs at 11 in the morning is also there when I come back from night rehearsals at 11 p.m."

That man is Elizar Dorez, an employee of ISS, the maintenance company to which Fusco Management has subcontracted the services Yale subcontracted to Fusco for the year. Dorez works 68 hours a week. While students and administrators are pleased with the service Fusco is providing in the Swing Space and Linsley-Chittenden Hall, Local 35 President Bob Proto believes subcontracted employees are "being abused" because they are not protected by the union's contract with Yale.

According to Swing Space superintendent Steve Ryan, a Fusco employee, Dorez volunteered for a double shift because he wants to work. "He's so good that when he offered, we jumped to accept him," Ryan said.

"Sure, the guy's happy he found a job," Proto countered. "And that's the problem. Once you find someone who needs a job to make ends meet, you can manipulate him or her to work any amount of time. This guy is working longer hours and getting paid less than the union workers next door."

Ryan claims he and Dorez "really like working for Fusco" and are "well treated" and provided with pension plans and uniforms. But to Proto, "What Yale is doing is trying to wash its hands of abusing its own workers by finding someone else who will do the dirty work in the name of companies like Fusco."

"Of course it's upsetting for [union] workers to know that they have to compete with others for certain jobs," Vice President of Facilities Kemel Dawkins said. "But we're not laying off workers. And the reality is that we need to look for ways to improve work." He said he is encouraging "open dialogue with the unionized workforce to discuss how to do work more efficiently."

Still, Proto maintains that the University is "establishing a second tier of workers that it can get away with paying less." He estimates that subcontracted workers make $7 to $8 an hour; workers themselves declined to reveal their salaries. The average hourly wage of a union custodian is over $11.

Nonetheless, administrators like the results of subcontracting they've seen. "What's been demonstrated so far is that we can get custodial and maintenance services done by an outside company. We've heard glowing reviews from [Berkeley Master Harry Stout] and equally glowing reports from people at LC," Dawkins said. Berkeley students agree with this statement. "The cleaning is stellar. The walls and the carpets are always clean. I have no complaints," Larry Schooler, BK '00, said. "It seems like whenever I come back to my room around 11 a.m., the workers are there sweeping."

Ryan also appreciates the freedom of working for Fusco. Whereas union workers are contractually confined to strict job descriptions--custodians, for example, are not allowed to do groundswork--"I can do anything from electrical work to plumbing to helping out with janitorial stuff, depending on what needs to be done," Ryan said. "As long as the work is getting done, it doesn't matter who's doing it."

The tight job descriptions of its contract help create more union jobs, but Proto says they ensure quality as well. "These job descriptions are written specifically so that the job is designed for a worker who is capable of doing it," he said. "Companies like Fusco will often try to get some jack-of-all-trades handyman who is not properly skilled in all aspects of his work, and this means they don't care about the quality of work or the risk involved for the worker."

The University says it is too soon to predict whether or not Yale will renew or expand its contract with Fusco, which expires at the end of the year, but insists its goal is not to disrupt the union workforce. "We're really just trying to figure out ways to use our own people as expeditiously and advantageously as possible," Joseph Mullinix, vice president of finance and administration, said.

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