From the Inland Valley
Our Times, May 27, 2000:
Colleges, food firm end pact of 2 years
The Claremont Colleges ended a contract with food-service provider Aramark Corp. on Friday [May 26], a month after campus buildings were taken over by student protesters in support of Aramark workers.
The contract had been criticized on a number of fronts, including student complaints that workers were unfairly treated, poorly paid and discouraged from speaking out.
Pomona College President Peter Stanley made the announcement in a memorandum saying the colleges wanted to improve the food [service on the campuses] and conditions for the employees. "We are convinced that we can do better for our students and for our food-service workers," he said.
Stanley said the colleges will hire the food-service workers and add them to their own payrolls. That means vacations, substantial raises and access to benefit plans the colleges offer regular employees.
In late April and early May, students called for the colleges to take responsibility for the working conditions of the food-service workers. They took over Pitzer College's administration building for two days, and after getting concessions from Pitzer President Marilyn Chapin Massey, they chained themselves to Pomona College's administration building.
Stanley and Massey said the college presidents were considering changing or ending the Aramark contract before student protests.
"It was a move that we had been thinking about for a long time," Massey said Friday [May 26].
Ending the contract was the result of negotiations between the colleges and Aramark and was agreed by both sides, officials said. ...
The Aramark contract ends July 10, and the colleges plan to hire a new food-service company, this time to manage workers who will be on the colleges' payrolls.
--Tipton Blish
