by Brice Nixon
Editorial Director
Employees of Marriott Housekeeping Services at the University of La Verne, through a group of ULV students, requested on Tuesday that the University’s administration look into allegations of employee abuse by Marriott management.
After meeting with some of the housekeeping employees on Monday night, a group of “concerned ULV students” sent a memorandum to President Stephen Morgan and Executive Vice President Phil Hawkey, as well as University faculty, staff and students.
The memorandum stated that workers are “subjected to a myriad of verbal and psychological harassment.”
Senior Eddie Casarez and sophomore David Rojas met with Dr. Morgan and Hawkey yesterday to discuss the workers’ requests.
Rojas said a meeting with Marriott management is set for Monday.
“We hope that our meeting with Marriott will be successful in the fact that all the … complaints can be stopped and [we can] reach an agreement,” said Rojas.
Many of the workers were scared they might lose their jobs if they vocalized their complaints, Casarez said.
An attempt to contact Marriott Housekeeping Services’ on-campus management after yesterday’s meeting was unsuccessful.
“We were told by some of the workers that they filed complaints which have been all but ignored,” said Casarez. “So that’s why we couldn’t go to management. We felt we needed to take it a step further.”
“It raises issues that need exploration to find more information,” said Hawkey. “And it’s part of the follow-up that is being planned.
“What we’ve heard so far is the students expressing what they heard from the employees. So it’s second hand and it’s one perspective, and we need to hear the full perspective.”
“The response that we got was positive,” Rojas said of yesterday’s meeting, “because obviously they [housekeeping employees] are part of this University just as much as the students are, and we should work together as one forum to stop this injustice. And they [Dr. Morgan and Hawkey] were for that. They were for this awareness.”
Casarez said the University “has an obligation to live up to [its] mission statement.
The memo specifically pointed to one of the Mission Statement’s four major concerns: “The University affirms a philosophy of life that actively supports the health of the planet and its people. The University, therefore, encourages students to become reflective about personal, professional and societal values in the light of this affirmation.”
Dr. Morgan was unavailable for comment following yesterday’s meeting, but Hawkey said that Dr. Morgan expressed a concern for the welfare of the workers and that the University lives up to its mission statement.
“Of course, we believe in the mission statement and the role of the University, both for our employees as well as for our employees that work for contractors, [that they] are being treated with dignity and respect,” said Hawkey.
Hawkey also said that Dr. Morgan felt the allegations “raise issues. He did identify that the students had better access to the employees because the students had been able to go out and talk directly to the employees and hear their concerns that the employees clearly would not be willing to take to the president of the University.”
The workers acknowledge that they do not work for the University, they work for Marriott, said Hawkey.
“It’s a step in process,” Rojas said of the scheduled meeting with Marriott. “It’s an issue that needs to be looked at quickly, so we’re trying to work with it as best as possible right now.”
The memo outlined five requests. The first is a general salary increase for all Marriott employees. Casarez said the housekeeping employees currently make at or near minimum wage and they request at least a $1 an hour increase.
Second, the employees request that management set a fixed price for overtime benefits.
The third request is a lessening of the workload.
The memo also requested a change in management, and said that “current management is not willing to listen to employee concerns, and have ignored several complaints regarding verbal abuse and physical work ‘overload.’ ”
The fifth and final request outlined in the memo was a request for affordable healthcare.
Rojas and Casarez also started petitions yesterday morning.
“Basically what we want to do is see if students, staff and faculty are interested in signing them,” said Rojas. “We’re going to present them to the meeting on Monday [to show that] there is a lot of support.
“Professors know what’s going on,” said Casarez. “There are some that are very supportive.”
Said Rojas, “Hopefully students support the cause. A lot of students have come to me asking questions and come to me with their concerns.”
