As college faculty and administrators slide into their slippers and prepare to work online, other campus workers who can’t carry out their duties remotely – namely members of dining, housing and maintenance operations – face layoffs as various institutions across the country are reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, Bon Appétit Management Company, the dining provider at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), announced it would lay off its 140-person team of retail dining workers after March 31, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
Though Bon Appétit typically lets about 70% of its staff go each summer, the abruptness of the current layoff will cause financial hardship and uncertainty, said John Preston, the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 929, the union that represents UPenn retail dining workers, to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
In the meantime, a group named the Student Labor Action Project at the school published a petition asking the university to intervene on behalf of the contracted Bon Appétit workers who face impending layoffs at the end of the month. As of Wednesday afternoon, roughly 8,000 people have signed the petition.
Unfortunately, the fate of UPenn’s retail dining workers is not an anomaly. The list of organizations taking similar measures is growing.
“Colleges are being very cautious with their finances right now because nobody knows how this virus is going to end up,” said Dr. Robert Kelchen, associate professor of higher education at Seton Hall University. “If they knew the magnitude of the crisis, they may not need to make all these cuts but given concerns about enrollment for next year, and whether there are even on-campus classes next fall, colleges are being very cautious in spending money, so they’re cutting everything that they can.”
A bit further west, for instance, Western Michigan University employees deemed “non-essential” face uncertain futures, too, as they rely on their dwindling paid time off and sick leave to receive a paycheck.
