VENTURA : Solution Sought in Coffee-Stand Dispute

Ventura College administrators plan to meet with an employee union to work out a disagreement over a gourmet coffee stand in the college cafeteria.

College district trustees on Tuesday told senior managers to try to resolve a dispute with staff members over a contract that leases out space for the coffee stand and employs students instead of college workers.

Officials of the Service Employees International Union Local 535 complained to trustees that contracting out for services that could be provided by union members is illegal.

They threatened the district with a lawsuit if an agreement is not reached.

“We’ll meet with administrators, but we’re going to be firm in our position,” union official Gregory P. Cross said. “In the meantime, our attorneys are looking at the alternatives.”

The newly opened Grounds for Coffee stand at Ventura College violates state law because the students, who are paid less, work for an outside concessionaire, union officials said.

“No one’s lost a job over it,” Cross said. “But the concern is that if we don’t say, ‘You can’t do that,’ how can we say it’s not OK later?”

Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Marsee, who signed the lease allowing the stand to operate inside the college cafeteria, said there is no difference between the coffee stand and other contractors that have been brought in elsewhere in the district.