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To: City College of New York President Lisa Staiano-Coico and Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation Executive Director Jason Wallace

City College: Protect Cafeteria Workers' Jobs!

Dear President Lisa Staiano-Coico and Auxiliary Enterprises Corporation Executive Director Jason Wallace,

We, the undersigned, are students, faculty, and staff at City College, and others who support them, from around CUNY, New York City, and beyond, who believe that cafeteria workers at our school, who work every day to provide great food and excellent service for us, should not need to fear losing their jobs simply because the school is considering a change in food service contractors.

Many workers in our cafeteria have worked ten years, twenty years, or more, providing excellent food to our whole faculty and student community. Now that City College is considering a new food service contractor, many fear that they will lose their jobs, because the CCNY Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation's (AEC) Request for Proposals (RFP) only stipulates that a new "Contractor must interview all members of the previous food service vendor’s staff who are interested in working for Contractor" (RFP, Form 4-- Food Service Operations Contract, Section 5.2.10), not that the new contractor must hire them.

We need the college and the AEC to recognize and respect the good work of these workers, and change the language in the RFP's Food Service Operations Contract to require that "Contractor must retain all members of the previous food service vendor's staff who are interested in working for Contractor, respect their seniority with the previous vendor, and compensate them with wages and benefits equal or better than those they received under the previous vendor."

We request that the documents on the AEC's website be updated as soon as possible in order to quickly alleviate the stress and uncertainty that cafeteria workers and their friends and families are currently enduring and to ensure that principles of fair treatment and respect for workers' service are upheld within the CUNY community. This will show City College cafeteria workers in a very tangible way the great esteem in which our community holds them and their work.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

Why is this important?

Many workers in our cafeteria have worked ten years, twenty years, or more, providing excellent food to our whole faculty and student community. Now that City College is considering a new food service contractor, many fear that they will lose their jobs, because the CCNY Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation's (AEC) Request for Proposals (RFP) only stipulates that a new "Contractor must interview all members of the previous food service vendor’s staff who are interested in working for Contractor" (RFP, Form 4-- Food Service Operations Contract, Section 5.2.10) [1], not that the new contractor must hire them.

We need to quickly alleviate the stress and uncertainty that cafeteria workers and their friends and families are currently enduring and to ensure that principles of fair treatment and respect for workers' service are upheld within the CUNY community. This will show City College cafeteria workers in a very tangible way the great esteem in which our community holds them and their work.

[1] http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/aec/upload/CCNY-RFP-Food-Only-123014.pdf

Updates

2015-04-10 01:42:16 -0400

1,000 signatures reached

2015-03-23 15:53:46 -0400

500 signatures reached

2015-03-17 15:19:58 -0400

100 signatures reached

2015-03-17 03:19:48 -0400

50 signatures reached

2015-03-16 22:41:07 -0400

25 signatures reached

2015-03-16 22:03:09 -0400

10 signatures reached