As I prepare for graduation next week, more than 190 ASU employees will also be making their departure.
On Friday, Katie Shoultz reported in The State Press that ASU plans to save $1.6 million by subcontracting the Tempe custodial staff to Olympus Building Services, which is headquartered in New Jersey, and the West staff to Crystal Cleaning.
In the article, ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler stated that “to protect the core mission of the institution, which is teaching students,” the University must “streamline operations that can save money.”
The business sentiment in this rhetorical statement holds heavy implications. First, it dehumanizes the impact that this top-down decision has on individual workers. After speaking with one worker named George last week, he expressed personal indignity over the decision.
George, having recently made a full recovery from cancer, has been working for ASU for a few years. Now, he must start over at another company, uncertain of what, if any, benefits he will receive. He ultimately expresses feelings of remorse for those having worked longer than him.
Second, Keeler’s statement deliberately pits the interests of students against that of the workers. The insinuation is that in order for students to be better off, workers need to be made worse off, and vice versa.
This is ironic. Since both groups live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, every member of the community possesses an inherent and intrinsic interest in the well-being of other people within the community.
However, this nasty tactic is used to distract the demos and act as a scapegoat for leaders at the University and Arizona Legislature to not be held accountable for their decisions that have led to this lack of financial resources.
Having lived for over 50 years, George firmly conveyed solidarity with ASU students, stating that tuition and fee hikes piss him off even more than being laid off.
“It’s no secret. You all are paying more for less,” he said.
This semester alone, I have never seen so much disrespect by top ASU administrators towards students, faculty and employees than in my four years combined.
I urge everyone at the University to open your eyes and to see the world for what it is. We must realize that if we the people are going to win back our dignity, we must stop dividing ourselves and act as one community.
By working together to fight the privatization that is forcing us to live life with irreparable debt, we can change what is at stake for future generations to come.
At Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on April 19, the Sodexo employees voted to form a union, in order to improve working conditions and benefits. Instead of arbitrarily separating, students from Students for Labor and Economic Justice worked with the workers to help better their lives, according to The Los Angeles Loyolan.
What happened at Loyola is beautiful. It is unity for bettering one’s community.
And that is what I want my last column to leave you with — hope, passion, and the fire to rise up and fight back.
Let us begin building the movement of the 21st century.
Reach Athena at asalman3@asu.edu
