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Oberlin Crushes Its Custodians: They Need Us Now
When Oberlin’s administration terminated 60 custodians in August, it expressed the hope that the new contractor, Scioto, would hire these workers at decent wages and benefits. However, the College awarded the contract without any provision for how Scioto would treat the laid-off workers. Indeed, this contractor chose not to interview Oberlin workers and brought in crews sub-contracted from other areas. Only one former Oberlin janitor was hired at $14/hour--$8 less per hour than he formerly earned--without any health insurance benefits. Fortunately, eight custodians with kitchen experience were hired by AVI, the new Oberlin food service contractor.
Dini ng Services More Positive
The AVI situation is much more positive. AVI has a longstanding relationship with the United Automobile Workers (UAW), the union which represented the fired Oberlin workers. As a result, AVI agreed to negotiate a new contract with the union. Although the agreement has not yet been completed and ratified by the Oberlin workers, Chris Freeman, the UAW staff representative, reports that 43 of the 53 former food service workers have been hired by AVI at their former rate of pay and will likely receive comparable benefits to those they had when they were Oberlin employees. The remaining 10 also would have been offered jobs but have chosen to retire or move on.
Short Shrift for Long Service
Collectively, these former custodians served Oberlin for a total of 690 years! Their average age is 53, half are women and 25 percent are African-American or Latinx. In addition, several face intense responsibilities as caregivers for family members in need.
These members of the Oberlin community clearly deserve our assistance as they struggle to find alternative employment during a pandemic in a heavily economically depressed area of Ohio. They are receiving three months of severance pay from the college, negotiated by the union. Chris Freeman also reports that their health care coverage from the College was extended to June 2021, thanks in part to our collective efforts.
As Oberlin College and Conservatory forms new committees on racial justice and makes moving statements in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, it is utterly inexplicable that the administration could choose to do so much harm to the workers in its own community, which already has a 23 percent poverty rate.
To right this wrong, the 1833 Just Transition Fund is now up and running. We are working as quickly as possible to go live with a donation page. We hope to collect pledges by mid-November to ensure that the former Oberlin employees receive assistance before Thanksgiving. Thank you very much for your pledge and please stay tuned!
Executive Board Votes on Fund Distribution
The Fund’s board consists of five alumni: Kelly Grotke, ’89; Les Leopold, ’69 (president); Cassandra Ogren, ’02; Susan Phillips ’76 (treasurer); and Kris Raab, ’89 (secretary). The Fund also has two ex-officio faculty advisors, Marc Blecher and Chris Howell, as well as two union advisors, Erik Villar and Chris Freeman. At our first board meeting on 9/11, we decided that approximately 90% of the money raised will be divided equally among the custodians who have not been rehired. The remaining 10% will be for grants to former Oberlin workers facing extreme hardships.
Given all that ails our country, it is shameful that our beloved college has made such cold-hearted decisions, only adding to people’s woes rather than helping to ameliorate them. However, the collective outcry from students, their parents, faculty, and alumni has definitely given some hope to these cast-aside workers. It has also helped to preserve our progressive tradition in the eyes of these workers and their families. We’ve been told again and again that this is the Oberlin they believed in. This is the Oberlin they cherished and of which they were so proud. We thank you for your pledge and your commitment to the best of Oberlin.
Please continue to spread the word and ask others to make a pledge.
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