On subcontracting

To the Editor:

The question regarding subcontracting in the Swing Space and Linsley-Chittenden Hall is not as simple as Liz Oliner argues in the Fri., Feb. 5 issue of the Herald ("Pleased with Fusco, Yale extends 'experiment'"). Union workers could be considered inefficient, in a twisted way—but treating people decently, paying them a living wage, giving them health care, and allowing them to only do the work that's within their job description makes things both a little more complicated and a little more expensive.

Other questions were not asked by Oliner's article. Why should we believe that the University isn't trying to undercut the union? Is it just a coincidence that Yale seems to prefer a system that allows it to pay lower wages and provide fewer benefits to its workers?

Perhaps more importantly, how do we, as implicit partners in these transactions, feel about exploiting people? One Swing Space employee I know labors for tremendously long hours in order to bring his children to this country. How do we feel about pushing his family's reunion further away? How do we feel about paying him less than a living wage?

—Jess Champagne, BK '01

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