ASUCLA neglected students, workers

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 Edward Chiao

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After enormous pressure from organized students and the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, the
Associated Students of UCLA is finally acknowledging the
mistreatment of non-student workers. But regardless of the tune
they’re singing now, the association showed an immoral and
unethical disregard for the workers when they consciously decided
to hire them instead of students in 1994. They could just have
easily increased wages and made those jobs more attractive to
students then ““ as they claim they must do now to stay in
line with their student mission. Instead, they hired
“temporary” workers ““ who have now served in
their “temporary” positions for almost eight years
““ because they wouldn’t have to pay them benefits and
higher wages. Not only was this choice the exact opposite of their
mission to serve students, it was a deliberate decision to devalue
human work for profit. And something needs to be done to right the
situation.

However that “something” is incredibly complicated,
because ASUCLA actually does have a commitment to supply students
with campus jobs ““ regardless of whether or not they’ve
been living up to it. We often talk about access to education, and
one of the main reasons many students are able to attend UCLA is
because they can work on campus to pay for their university costs.
If ASUCLA has the ability to increase student wages for these
students, they are bound by their mission to do so.

But it’s also true that there are certain jobs students
won’t or can’t fill because they require working odd
hours or for other reasons. These positions will have to be filled
by non-student workers ““ and they deserve full benefits and
living wages. But ASUCLA will continue to need temporary employees
during slow times like summer and holidays and any contract must
allow for that.

Other jobs that students can fill, such as daytime cashiers
positions, should be reserved for the students ASUCLA is obligated
to serve.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t right the wrong done to
current “temporary” workers and means some of the
non-student employees will no longer have jobs. In order to address
this situation fairly, ASUCLA and the university should do two
things. First, the association should compensate workers who have
been unfairly exploited since 1994 but may no longer have a place
within ASUCLA. Second, the university should try to retrain those
non-student employees for other on-campus jobs. These workers are
members of the UCLA community, and should not suffer for
ASUCLA’s mistakes.

Some people have tried to simplify this situation by claiming
it’s only about worker’s rights and not about students.
But that is far from the truth. These past weeks have brought about
huge questions regarding what responsibilities ASUCLA has to
students, the association’s effectiveness in carrying out its
mission, who the jobs rightfully belong to, and human rights and
dignity. Unfortunately, two worthy causes ““ workers’
rights and student access to education ““ have come into
conflict. If students hold ASUCLA to its mission, it is students
who take priority. But it doesn’t mean the association should
be let off the hook for unethical hiring and compensation
decisions. And even if ASUCLA does pay the more than $1 million
dollar cost of righting the wrong, in the end, the workers are the
ones who paid the highest price.