Column: Labor exploits since 1789

This weekend’s snowstorm meant no classes for students and wage theft for many workers on campus.

Non-mandatory service employees were told they must leave campus, not report for work and use personal leave, vacation or paid time off to compensate for lost wages.

Workers in Lenoir Hall told activists they were similarly refused pay after being sent home early on Jan. 20 due to the power outage. At the end of every semester, food service workers report being laid off and forced to find other jobs or collect unemployment benefits to make ends meet.

The exploitation of Black and Brown labor, however, is nothing new on this campus. The foundation of this university, as well as its legacy, were built by Black people who were enslaved, and the University’s current labor practices are in keeping with this tradition of abusing and displacing the Black and Brown workers that have kept UNC operational since its inception.

In 1969, Black food service workers in Lenoir Hall went on strike alongside student organizers from the Black Student Movement to redress an organized system of oppression, including inadequate pay and racial discrimination.

In response, the University privatized its food services to shirk responsibility for the continued abuse of its workers.

Many of the abusive labor practices employed by the University prior to privatization remain intact today under subcontractors like Aramark, the corporation that operates campus dining facilities.

Aramark is not only one of the largest benefactors of the prison-industrial complex but also responsible for disenfranchising employees on campus. In 2005, for example, Aramark asked the police to surveil Vel Dowdy, a vocal pro-union organizer and employee. Later, Dowdy was arrested on charges of felony embezzlement for allegedly allowing some students into the dining hall for free. Activists claimed the arrest was used to discourage the organization of a union.

While the University and its subcontractors accumulate massive profits by failing to provide livable wages, their workers are subject to undue hardship and financial precarity.

Workers can no longer afford to live in the nearby historically Black, working class neighborhoods, such as Northside, as an influx of student residents has driven up the cost of living. Workers now must live further from campus and pay for lengthy and costly daily commutes. When it comes to the University’s break and closure policies, workers who have spent exorbitant amounts of time and money to come to campus are turned away with no pay.

UNC and its subcontractors actively participate in labor practices that disenfranchise employees, deny them financial stability and exploit their labor. We, as students, must demand that all workers at the University have the right to unionize, collectively bargain and receive a minimum wage that reflects the cost of living in Chapel Hill. Equitable labor practices means an equitable campus community.