By: Tim Donahue
“Aramark,” it’s a bad word around Western’s campus. Responsible for just about all of the food that’s available on school grounds, Aramark is a publicly traded concessions company that is specifically known for their service to universities all around America. University of Washington, Baylor, Clemson, and of course, Western Washington University. Recently marred by their connection to prison labor and the prison industrial complex [the practice of corporations privately owning and operating prisons while using their power to perpetuate the incarceration which they rely on for profit], Aramark has been the source of a lot of bad press recently.
So we at Wavelength have decided to ask student employees what it’s like to work for such a prominent and controversial corporation on campus. Good, bad, and everywhere in-between, this is what they had to say:
“Most staff are overwhelmed with students during the rush portions of the day, with minimum staff support.”
“I got one t-shirt to wear the entire time I was there, which is gross considering how sweaty you get in the dish pit.”
“None of us were properly trained for our positions.”
“They didn’t care about any of the employees. You would walk past the manager and [they] would hardly glance at you.”
“There are no instances where I feel like I am put in a significant amount of danger or discomfort…”
“One person had a nonrefundable ticket for out of the country, told our manager about it months ahead, but never got the weeks off put in for her.”
“I believe there was a bit of a power struggle between our two head managers, one has since quit because they were not being treated with respect and they were not given proper time to deal with family issues.”
“I’ve heard multiple complaints about [the managers] from my other coworkers about being yelled at and the like.”
“The manager was not easy to contact, seeing as he took days to respond if he responded at all.”
“There wasn’t a system for requesting time off.”
“Everything is very unorganized.”
With on-campus enrollment reaching an all-time high for this coming fall, student food security and sourcing has never been more important than it will be in these coming years. This security has to include the worker just as much as it does the consumer, and this importance begins with a deep examination into the working conditions that these employees currently have. Without visibility, there is no voice, and our student employees deserve protection when we see a flood on the horizon. After reaching out multiple times for a statement from Aramark themselves, and not responding back, we have decided to let the employee’s quotes speak for themselves.
Check these links for more information on Aramark, Western’s concessions controversy, and the prison industrial complex:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fb33a0096af54c748a9aa9cf52795bdb