Aramark cuts hours of its Univ. workers

Hopkins has increased the price of meal plans next semester by an average of four percent, and Aramark has reduced some employees' hours, although the company has not announced any plans to fire employees or reduce salaries.

Gladys Burrell, head of the Aramark employees' union and an employee in the Fresh Food Café (FFC), said that some employees felt the impact of financial cutbacks by having their hours reduced.

"They've been cutting back on some people's schedules," Burrell said.

"Not many people work 40 hours anyways, and they're trying to cut back on some time."

David Furhman, director of Dining Services, said that Aramark has not attempted to charge more for its services.

"Aramark has worked well with University Housing and Dining Services in helping to keep costs and cost increases contained, while working to increase meal plan value and flexibility," he said.

Furhman cited the meal plan price increase as the lowest meal plan rate increase in six years.

According to a report issued by the Aramark to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the corporation suffered a 5.3 percent decline in revenue during the quarter ending on Jan. 2.

Burrell also cited a change in management as a potential source of friction between employees and management.

According to Burrell, the FFC has the same production manager but a new assistant and fill-in manager.

"Since they came, things have changed," she said. "Disciplinary actions have been taken a little more often."

All FFC employees interviewed preferred to remain anonymous.

"Their policies and procedures stink," one female employee said.

A female employee claimed that they were not being compensated for all the hours that they had worked.

Another noted that work was now "more stressful" and employees were getting sick more often.

The recent schedule cuts have brought to the fore previous complaints that Aramark workers have had with the company's policies.

In 2007, when Aramark had just began to supply dining services to Hopkins, Aramark employees voiced complaints regarding policies regulating their vacation time, hour cuts, reduced worker benefits and a lack of respect from the management.

One policy included letting employees go over the summer and re-hiring in the fall.

Another criticism was limiting employee working hours to less than 30 per week, as Aramark policy dictates that it does not have to provide employees working fewer than 30 hours per week with health insurance.

Although Aramark spokesperson Karen Cutler did not comment on any economic measures that the company is taking, Burrell said that she had not heard of any plans to cut costs, such as firing employees, or reducing or freezing salaries.

As a union head, Burrell often has to mediate disputes between management and employees. She also aims to ensure fair working conditions and wages for Aramark employees and has been involved in protests in Atlantic City, Washington D.C., New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.

She noted the discontent that she sensed many employees felt with Aramark's management.

"It used to be fun coming to work," she said. "You looked forward to coming to work."

Burrell noted that the majority of worker dissatisfaction was not due to their environment or coworkers, but rather to the economic downturn and the lack of an increase in wages.

"Food has gone up [in price] but wages haven't," she said.

Aramark has taken further measures to try and minimize the amount of food that is wasted, especially in the FFC where the all-you-can-eat buffet system often leads to wasted food. They installed a "Waste-o-Meter," a trash can on a scale, to show how much food was being thrown away each day.

Burrell felt that the Waste-o-Meter was useful, since it provided a visual reminder of how much food was being thrown away.

Burrell noted that the recent use of smaller to-go boxes in the FFC was unrelated to costs. Rather, the larger trays had been ordered but had not yet been delivered. As of yesterday, the original, larger boxes were being distributed.

Although Furhman emphasized that he could not speak on behalf of Aramark, he felt that the company had not been affected very much by the economy.

"I can tell you that sales are pretty steady at retail locations and that the Fresh Food Cafe is doing quite a brisk business, with attendance showing an upward from last year at this time," he said.

Aramark took over for Sodexho in 2006 as the supplier of dining services to the University, including in the FFC and Charles Street Market.

Along with the University's price increase next semester of an "anytime dining" meal plan to $5,158, Aramark has cut down on the hours of some of its employees.