University of Central Florida: The fight for responsible contracting

Today we have a guest post from UCF student Dominique Aulisio who explains how she and her fellow students are planning to raise awareness about the ramifications of UCF's contracting decisions.

At UCF we are building a Student Labor Action Project chapter to support workers who are organizing for change against the injustices they face. As students, we see the need to support the workers who serve us in our university as well as workers throughout the world who are affected by the business contracts our university holds.

For example, UCF contracts with Aramark to run our cafeteria and many of the restaurants on campus. Farmworkers in Florida who pick the tomatoes that come to our cafeteria receive poverty wages and suffer abuses in the workplace.  According to a federal prosecutor in Florida, in the most extreme instances, the abuse of these workers constitutes modern day slavery.   Right now the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is looking to college campuses, including ours, asking Aramark to use their power as a large buyer of tomatoes to change these conditions. In the past, the CIW has won agreements to ensure better wages and working conditions with Taco Bell, McDonald's, Burger King, Whole Foods, and Subway, due in part to students pressuring the companies on their campuses. During the Taco Bell campaign, students and administration at 22 schools cut contracts or even denied Taco Bell sponsorship.

UCF also contracts with Coca-Cola for vending machines and pouring rights in restaurants and the cafeteria. We are raising awareness on campus about the Campaign Against Coca-Cola with the union SINAL TRAINAL in Colombia, whose union workers have faced severe repression in Coca-Cola plants.  Through informative events on campus, we are also letting students, faculty, and staff know about violence that has been perpetrated against Coca-Cola bottling plant employees.  As Coca-Cola continues to deny responsibility, the Campaign Against Coca-Cola claims that Coke turned a blind eye to this violence.

At the same time, we will be fighting to make sure workers in our cafeteria who cook, cashier and clean receive wages that cover basic bills in line with Orlando's cost of living.  We support a livable wage for all the workers who serve us on our campus. We are working toward a day when our administration and the companies we do business with show their support for decent wages and dignity as well, both in words and practice.