Students Protest Staff Out-Sourcing

Around 20 members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) and the Harvard Prisoner Education Program joined forces to march against dining hall employee outsourcing at Harvard's law, business and education schools yesterday.

Sodexho Marriot Services (SMS) provides workers for dining services at all three schools. Subcontracted workers generally receive lower wages and fewer benefits than regular Harvard employees.

PSLM objects to the company's treatment of its workers, while the Harvard Prisoner Education Program protested SMS' investments in for-profit prison labor as part of this week's "Prisons in America" conference.

Students bearing signs with slogans such as "Get my tuition out of Marriot" and "Harvard + Sodexho = Private Prisons" marched from the Science Center to Mass. Hall and then to the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), seeking support for their cause.

Justin P. Steil '00, a member of the Prisoner Education Program, said he opposes Harvard's contracting to SMS because it is the leading investor in the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) which employs prison labor for profit.

"The idea of for-profit prisons is a hypocrisy of American democracy because the incentive is to keep people in prisons longer," he said. "The fact that Harvard invests in that is unjust."

Students said they hope yesterday's march helped others realize what SMS's connection to Harvard means for the University.

"There is a great deal about Marriott to detest: not just its involvement with for-profit prisons, but its own truly despicable record of labor abuses and violations," wrote PSLM member Benjamin L. McKean '02 in an e-mail message. "We are happy to bring attention to such a target."

When the students arrived at KSG, Ronald Spinola, a KSG dining hall worker, and one of his co-workers were standing outside taking a break.

Jeffery L. Goldberg '85-'86, a student at the Graduate School of Education (GSE), approached the workers and provided them with pamphlets explaining the protest.

"I hope you can really help," said Spinola, who has worked for SMS for seven months.

"[The march] is a really good thing because I think what they're saying is true," Spinola added. "[SMS employers] are not fair people to work for."

Although he said he loves his job, Spinola expressed frustrations with the company saying it is unresponsive to workers' needs.

As graduation nears, the University will be hiring several new employees from the outside to help out, Spinola said. He added that not only will these new workers be paid more money, but that he and his current co-workers will also have to train them.

In a meeting following their march, students from PSLM and the Harvard Prisoner Education Program brainstormed ways to continue their awareness efforts, such as tabling in dining halls and arranging a petition.

Goldberg suggested handing out information illustrating workers' situations to parents attending graduation ceremonies.

Spinola said he continues to hope for change. Right now he has a job, but he said that if he had a girlfriend he would not even be able to take her out on his current salary. He said he hopes students can help because his efforts to improve the situation have been unsuccessful.

"When you come to [the company] with a problem...if it's for their benefit they'll look into it," he said. "But if it's for the worker's benefit, they won't do anything."