UMD, Drop Daycon

Diamondback: SGA joins groups opposed to officials’ stance on Daycon

In a unanimous vote Wednesday night, the SGA stood behind student activists in calling on the administration to cut ties with a university contractor found guilty of federal labor violations.

Students groups have been lobbying the administration to cancel its contract with Daycon — a janitorial equipment and supply company that was ordered by a federal judge last month to rehire 55 striking workers — since last semester.

Although they finally got a response from the administration last month, it wasn’t what they wanted — university President Wallace Loh’s chief legal counsel, Terry Roach, told students the university would be violating the company’s 14th Amendment rights by pressuring it to abide by the ruling before appeal.

Daycon has since appealed the decision and about 20 workers remain out of work.

But that hasn’t stopped student groups Feminism Without Borders and College Park Students for a Democratic Society from holding protests against the university’s stance.

And Wednesday night, they gained a powerful ally — the Student Government Association, which overwhelmingly supported a resolution to urge the administration to suspend its contract with Daycon until the company resumes negotiations with the workers. No legislators voted against it and only a few abstained.

“It was really, really telling that all the SGA members agree that this is a pretty egregious flouting of the law for a company contracted with the university,” said North Hill legislator Andrea Marcin, who introduced the issue to the SGA.

At the meeting, four Daycon workers and a representative from the Teamsters Local 639 union addressed the body, explaining Daycon’s violations and sharing their personal stories. Two of the workers described how difficult it has been to get medical treatment these past few months since Daycon has denied them health insurance.

Feminism Without Borders President Mary Yanik presented a copy of the university’s contract with Daycon, which she said explicitly states the university has grounds to terminate its contract without any serious negative consequences.

According to the contract, which Yanik said she obtained Tuesday, “The performance of work under this contract may be terminated by the University in whole or in part, in accordance with this section, whenever the University shall determine that such termination is in the best interest of the University or the State.”

But the resolution vote was almost delayed until after spring break when SGA President Steve Glickman asked the body to further look into why university legal counsel had not already terminated the contract.

The SGA initially voted in favor of tabling the bill, but Marcin explained to legislators that legal counsel had already stated their conclusion in the letter Roach sent to student groups. Legislators then overturned the decision to table the bill and passed it.

“As student legislators, we have a vested interest in the ethical conduct of the university and its business dealings,” Marcin said. “Once students know about what Daycon’s been doing, they wouldn’t feel comfortable using that toilet paper knowing [Daycon] is breaking the law.”

Daycon representatives could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Yanik said having the SGA take up this cause after months of her own lobbying makes her hopeful the administration will finally answer to students’ concerns.

“It shows that more and more people are becoming aware of the issue and there is a growing consensus that the only responsible thing for the university to do is cut the contract with Daycon,” Yanik said. “I hope President Loh will take the resolution of the SGA seriously along with the hundreds of students who signed our petition.”

Diamondback: Staff Editorial: Restoring the union

To many students at this university, workers’ unions are intangible organizations to be studied in a history class and only experienced through grainy, black-and-white photographs of early- to mid-century picket lines and strike breakers. Yet, while the golden age of the union has certainly set, the issue of workers’ rights has not yet been consigned to the dustbin of history. In fact, the fight has recently ensnared one of this university’s contractors.

At issue is a negotiation held April 22 between Daycon — an Upper Marlboro-based chemical and janitorial supply company that contracts with the university — and its unionized employees. When presented with their employees’ requests in a session with a federal mediator, Daycon management walked away from the bargaining table, never to return. And when 55 of their workers went on strike days later, Daycon hired new ones, subsequently refusing to return the striking workers to their jobs when asked to do so unconditionally.

Since the strike began, student groups at this university, including Feminists Without Borders and the College Park Students for a Democratic Society, have aggressively advocated for a termination of the contract between the university and the embattled company. Despite their efforts, not much has happened. University President Wallace Loh declined to take action despite writing a letter to the union and Daycon, stating “the University is committed to conducting its business operations in a way that reflects social responsibility.” James Stirling, the university’s director of procurement and supply, stated it wouldn’t be fair to make a decision either way until a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board had been made. And so, the issue reached a standstill.

That is, until one week ago, when a federal administrative law judge declared that Daycon had violated federal labor laws by walking away from negotiations with its employees’ union as well as by refusing to reinstate the striking workers. In addition, the judge, Joel P. Biblowitz, ordered Daycon to reinstate the 55 striking workers and compensate them for seven months of back pay.

Now, with a ruling made, the ball, it seems, is back in the university’s court. Will the contract be terminated? Or won’t it?

The ultimate decision should be based on Daycon’s next actions. If the company appeals the decision — as the Washington Post reported it was planning to do — then the administration should not hesitate to permanently sever ties with the company. This university, which has long committed itself to equality and fair labor practices, should not be in business with any company that refuses to acknowledge the rights of its employees or a wrongdoing declared so by federal law.

If Daycon chooses to accept the ruling, re-hire their employees and pay them the compensation they are owed, then there appears to be no reason to terminate the contract. For while the multiple violations of federal labor laws and the disenfranchisement of workers are certainly grievous offenses, every person and every company deserves a second chance. And, as SDS member Dennis Frostbutter noted, “If all the universities and businesses just cut their contracts with Daycon, long-term it would put the workers out of work, and that would just defeat the purpose of what we’ve been doing. We have to allow [Daycon] to make the right decisions so the workers can continue to work.”

So in the upcoming weeks, the university has a decision to make. Will it sit idly by as it as has so far, or will it petition the company and allow its position on labor practices to be known. After all, these decisions will have a deep impact not only on Daycon’s reputation, but on this university’s as well.

From the Diamondback:

Students who have protested against a university contractor’s labor relations are claiming victory after the firm was forced to reinstate 55 employees it fired when they went on strike in April.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Daycon, which supplies janitorial equipment and chemicals, violated federal labor laws, and the striking workers — who are also set to receive seven months of back pay — are once again making deliveries to the university.

Over those 10 months, Feminism Without Borders and College Park Students for a Democratic Society members organized a series of demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns calling for the university to drop its contract with Daycon if it did not rehire the strikers.

SDS member Dennis Frostbutter broke the news to fellow activists after he spoke to a Daycon truck driver in front of Stamp Student Union on Friday.

“He said that made his day, when I asked him if he was unionized,” Frostbutter said of the driver. “He told me to tell the students that the workers are back at work and they’re back on their campus. It’s just really amazing.”

But the dispute may not be over yet. While the strikers have resumed work for now, Daycon’s lawyers told The Washington Post they planned to appeal the ruling. Daycon representatives did not return calls for comment.

Mary Yanik, president of Feminism Without Borders, said members are very concerned about the possibility of an appeal, which may prolong the conflict with the strikers for months or even years. Yanik said she hopes the university administration will pressure Daycon to abide by the ruling.

“As students, I think Daycon appealing the decision would be a declaration of war on the campus,” she said. “That would be refusing to obey the law and ignoring the cries of the students, and they’ve received letters from our president, so they know our university is really concerned about this. So we will certainly put pressure to cut the contract if they appeal.”

In December, university President Wallace Loh sent letters to the presidents of Daycon and the union urging them to reach “a speedy and just resolution” to the dispute and informing them that the administration was awaiting a decision from the National Labor Relations Board on the case.

University Procurement and Supply Director James Stirling wrote in an e-mail that his office is consulting legal counsel before making any decision on the contract, and Loh said in an interview Friday that officials would be weighing many factors in considering whether to maintain relations with Daycon.

“The university is always committed to conducting business in a socially responsible matter,” Loh said, adding, “I think the voices of the students is very important, but that’s not the only factor.”

Loh also noted the university had its reasons for hiring Daycon.

“Maybe their service was better or their prices were better,” he said. “Whether or not the contract is renewed will take into account all of these issues. How they’ve treated their employees — we’d look into all of that and then make a decision.”

Student activists said they were hopeful Daycon would obey the ruling and not force the administration to terminate their contract.

“If all the universities and businesses just cut their contracts with Daycon, long term it would put the workers out of work, and that would just defeat the purpose of what we’ve been doing,” Frostbutter said. “We have to allow [Daycon] to make the right decisions so the workers can continue to work.”

Senior staff writer Alissa Gulin contributed to this report, present at umdbk dot com