The ‘Justice Begins on Our Campus’ Working Group representing five campuses in BC are challenging university and college administrators’ complicity in contributing to a race to the bottom through a tendering process that puts costs before people

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Working Group delegation representing stakeholders from Langara College, UBC-Okanagan, BCIT, and Capilano University simultaneously marched to the offices of their administrators Wednesday to deliver a series of recommendations urging Management to adopt a socially responsible approach in its tendering process by implementing a Living Wage for all workers on campus and not awarding contracts to ‘Bad Employers.’    

UBC-O Students, staff, faculty and cleaners rally before delivering their recommendations on Living Wage, Responsible Contracting and Fair Tendering directly to university administration.

“It’s terrible that our colleges and universities rely on poverty wages for the cleaning staff to keep our campus clean. It’s even worse that the company our administrators contracted the work to has actively interfered in workers’ attempts to join the trade union of their choice,” said Bradley Hughes, an instructor at Langara College.

“Everyone on campus benefits if we are all paid a living wage and are part of legitimate trade unions. Our administration has an obligation to require its contractors to pay a living wage and to behave ethically on campus,” Hughes added.

The working group delegation was joined by a handful of supporters at each campus as they delivered the list of recommendations attached to a makeshift trophy in the shape of a trash can, meant to represent the ‘garbage policies’ of the institutions that have subjected the most vulnerable workers on the campus communities to poverty.

At UBCO, Best Service Pros cleaners were also able to join the Student Union, faculty and staff in delivering the recommendations and spoke about their experience as janitors at UBCO and struggle on the ground to fight for better working conditions.

Michael Gauld, the Arts Faculty Representative of the UBCO Student Union explains that “as students of a leading global university, we can and should expect more from the administration. If we are to be global citizens, we need to first look at our campuses and communities. If the institution wants to put itself forward as a leader, it has to face the truth that workers on our campus are not treated fairly and deserve better. That is why we are calling on UBCO to review their contracting practices and to critically view their role in these issues.”

For the last two weeks, members of the solidarity working group at each campus have been mobilizing for the ‘Day of Action’ through tabling, petitioning and engaging with students, faculty and unions at their respective campuses.

“This working group is doing a very important thing by bringing to light the social costs of poverty working conditions,” explains Alan Stewart, who works as a Research Analyst at BCIT and participated in the one-day conference. “As a post-secondary institution whose sole purpose is to educate the next generation of brilliant minds, the last thing we want to be teaching is that it's okay to achieve this by exploiting workers.”

VCC had also set up a table at the downtown campus to raise awareness on the issue and do more petitioning. So far, over 700 students, faculty and supporters have directly emailed their administrators at the five respective campuses over the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, at Capilano University, students from the Student Workers Alliance Group (SWAG) led the way in delivering the recommendations to the Presidents’ office. SWAG has been one of the key groups supporting Best Service Pros cleaners at Capilano University and pushing forward a Living Wage for all direct and contracted workers on campus.

The launching of SEIU’s Justice for Janitors campaign on post-secondary campuses cleaned by Best Service Pros has led a group of concerned academics, staff and students to come together and create an ad-hoc solidarity working group.

“BCIT FSA members expect to be treated fairly and to have a say in their working conditions through collective bargaining. If the BCIT administration allows the lowest paid workers on campus to be stuck in a 10-year long contract that was negotiated without the employees' consent, then we know that free and fair collective bargaining is not valued by this Employer. We cannot allow BCIT to stand by while bargaining rights on campus are being eroded by Best Service Pros and their friends at CLAC,” said Paul Reniers, the Executive Director of the BCIT Faculty & Staff Association.

Under the slogan, ‘Justice Begins on Our Campuses,’ the working group held a one-day conference on Saturday March 17, 2018 at the Vancouver Community College Downtown Campus, where together, they developed and discussed the series of recommendations.

SEIU’s Justice for Janitors is a movement of workers that has successfully organized to improve wages, benefits, and job security for over 7,000 janitors across Canada. SEIU’s goal is to organize all janitors in BC, so together, workers can raise industry standards and reverse the race to the bottom.

For more information, please visit www.bestworkersdeservebetter.com 

Contact Information

Zoe Luba: 604-360-2690, zluba@seiulocal2.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/34c86d2e-4eb4-446d-b6e1-57730b5103bb