Food services feels effect of strike
Magally Zelaya, staff
Director of food services Daryl Lucyk smiles while explaining that he and 14 other managers have been filling in for 100 striking employees.
Food services on campus have been operating on a limited basis since 480 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union — who work in food services, residences, and maintenance — walked off the job on Oct. 9.
Campo café and operations not run by University of Manitoba Food Services have remained open. Pembina Hall has remained open to service students living in residence.
All other food service outlets on campus, including those not in University Centre and franchises like Robin’s Donuts, Starbucks, and Subway have been closed during the strike.
About 100 food services workers are currently on strike, leaving approximately 30 student workers (who are not represented by CAW) and 14 management staff to contend with all the university’s food services, according to U of M Food Services director Daryl Lucyk.
Lucyk also noted the absence of the around 40 of the approximately 70 students U of M Food Services employs. He attributed their absence to availability issues, the difficulty in contacting students to offer shifts, and the fact that the catering service, for which many of them work, is not running.
“We certainly support the university’s position, so we’re prepared to do whatever we have to do to work through this,” said Lucyk, while supervising a home economics class making muffins in the Pembina Hall kitchen.
Full-time students are not covered under the collective agreement, though part-time students are. Full-time students earn slightly over minimum wage for performing many of the same duties as unionized staff, according to Frank Wright, chairperson for CAW local 3007.
Wright said that the two-tiered system is unfair, and that it leads to complaints by union workers that students receive more hours because of their lower wages.
Including full-time students in the collective agreement is one of the issues CAW is asking for, Wright said.
Jal Kasaei, a first-year nursing student who normally works at Starbucks, said that the strike is working to his benefit. He accepted the offer to work his hours at Campo Café instead and is thankful for the extra hours. “I’m an international student. I pay over $1,000 a course and they pay me $8 an hour.”
“More hours, for me, [are] better, actually.”
Still he noted, “Whatever I make, it’s not like it stays in my pocket. It goes to the university again [for tuition fees].”
In University Centre, Campo Café has been running the Home Zone and pizza station on the limited hours of 8 p.m. to 2 p.m. — or, when the food runs out, as was the case on the first day of the strike.
Staffing priority has been given to Pembina Hall, which has been open 7-9 a.m. at breakfast, 12-2 p.m. at lunch, and 5-7 p.m. for dinner. Over the weekend, meals were served from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m..
“We don’t have a grazing period during the week, so we’re open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” explained Lucyk.
Tim Hortons was open on the first day of the strike, but Lucyk said that Tim Hortons asked the university to close the franchise in order to retain a neutral position on strike action.
As a result, there have been lengthy lines at the three UMSU-operated food service providers, Degrees, IQs, and GPAs.
Meanwhile, the BookStore has been offering free coffee to those with a mug.
