USC Workers May Protest at Graduation

USC’s cafeteria workers and dormitory employees see their dispute over job security with the university as another example of the classic struggle between David and Goliath.

The only difference is, they say, they won’t want to slay Goliath. They only want to reform him.

“We want to remind Goliath that he was once a David,” said Maria Elena Durazo, president of the workers’ union involved in the dispute. “We want to remind Goliath who he was and who we are.”

Philip J. Chiaramonte, USC’s associate vice president for auxiliary services, wouldn’t be drawn into the biblical imagery. Instead, he said the university has treated its cafeteria and housing workers very well.

Nevertheless, the nearly 4-year-old fight won’t be very far from campus today as USC holds its 116th annual graduation ceremony. A protest march, scheduled to begin about 10 a.m., is planned to dramatize the workers’ demand for job security. Several hundred participants, including community activists, USC students, local clergy and others who have been fasting for parts of this week are expected to march.

Last year, a demonstration by the union at commencement led to arrests of nearly 40 people. Asked if a repeat was at hand, Durazo, president of Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, replied, “We’ll get our message across.”

At issue is a demand by Local 11, which represents about 360 campus cafeteria and housing workers, that USC agree not to hire outside contractors to replace its members, whose hourly pay ranges from $7.40 to $15. Since the contract expired in August 1995, USC officials say they have not hired any outside contractors.

When the contract expired, the union and the university quickly agreed on virtually all terms of a new agreement. But it hasn’t been finalized because the university will not give in to the union’s demand to formally do away with subcontracting. Talks over the issue broke off last December.

Chiaramonte, who spoke on behalf of the university, said that the university to date has decided to keep all of its cafeteria and housing workers on the job. Also, even though a new pact was not in place, the university has given raises to the workers.

“We have had ample opportunity to subcontract (since the end of the last contract) and we chose not to,” Chiaramonte said.

The union said that USC made similar statements about outside contractors to campus custodians several years ago. Then, without warning, the custodians were fired and their jobs were given to an outside contractor. Eventually, most were rehired by the contractor, but the episode left Local 11 workers anxious.

“We’re just the little people and we don’t trust them,” said Trinidad Ornellas, a 20-year worker at USC.

This week, the workers and the supporters have staged nightly skits about David and Goliath in the parking lot of a nearby church to drum up enthusiasm for their cause. Some events are in Spanish to underscore the fact that more than 60% of the affected workers are Latinos.

Among the fasters is Alejandro “Alex” Rivera, who has worked at USC for nearly 30 years and who is currently the headwaiter in USC President Steven B. Sample’s dining room on campus.

Rivera, a native of Panama who has worked for four USC presidents, says the dispute hasn’t come up when he serves his current boss. “If he asks, I’ll tell him what I think,” Rivera said.