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Foodborne Illnesses and Fire Hazards as UW Dining is on the Verge of Collapse
Due to mismanagement, UW Dining has reached a tipping point, putting workers and students at risk and making a shutdown likely. Such a shutdown could leave students without food for an unknown amount of time.
3/24/2023
Due to mismanagement, UW Dining has reached a tipping point, putting workers and students at risk and making a shutdown likely. Such a shutdown could leave students without food for an unknown amount of time.
It should not come as a surprise that all is not well at the University of Washington’s dining halls. Even the UW subreddit has noticed. In a recent thread, Can Center Table PLEASE get more plastic reusable cups, students expressed their frustration with UW Dining’s decision to remove reusable cups from dining halls. This reflects deeper issues in UW Dining that have the potential to cause serious harm to workers and students if UW does not properly address them.
The root of the problem is UW’s desire to cut wages and benefits for their workers. This has caused staffing issues across campus. When interviewed, an anonymous dining employee told us “staffing issues are widespread, and are not just causing café closures and the long lines for food, but are why things like soda machines are broken, and why plumbing issues and other repairs take so long to fix.”
Beyond fair pay, UW fails to properly maintain their facilities. Instead, they try to cut costs as much as possible. This leads to savings in the short term, but can be catastrophic in the long term. The dining worker went on to say, "Everything is always broken which is annoying and makes our job more difficult, but when things like ovens and dishwashers break it becomes an issue of safety for the students we serve."
In one example, workers voiced concern over a significant fire hazard in the kitchen that threatened their safety and the safety of the students residing in the dorms upstairs. The concern continues to be undressed by UW Dining management and still presents a danger to workers and residents.
While management is responsible for these problems, they continue to use students and workers as scapegoats. After complaints about the lack of reusable cups, UW Dining management pushed the blame onto students and workers through a performative sustainable education campaign.
This was deeply ironic as they refused (and still refuse) to properly address the broken dishwashers that have been broken for the last four months. Until the dishwashers are fixed, food workers are forced to wash every dish by hand. Given how understaffed the workplace is, UW Dining management made the call to take away reusable cups. Yet they continue to reinforce a false narrative that food workers are somehow to blame.
As dishes are currently washed by hand, sanitation has become a major concern as workers are not given proper training, time, or tools. Poor sanitation can lead to severe foodborne illness and hospitalization in some cases. According to one UW food worker, there have already been multiple cases of foodborne illness this year, as a result of poor sanitation. This could have major-negative long term health impacts on the student body. Until UW agrees to do critical maintenance, properly compensate workers, and invest in training, we will likely continue to see more cases of foodborne illness from UW Dining’s food.
Local Point Dining Hall has not had an operational dishwasher for over four months
Now, with heavy use, the sink at Local Point is under such stress that it too has begun to show signs of breaking. In such an event, some are predicting that UW Dining will have no other option but to close.
UW has shown that it is willing to run its workplaces into the ground and jeopardize the safety of workers and students to save money. Their mismanagement and lack of investment in maintenance and labor has led to understaffing and safety hazards for the few workers left.
Given these conditions, we need to prepare for an extended closure of UW Dining, where students are left without food for an unknown amount of time.
“As a resident on West Campus, I've been worried about how a dining hall closure would affect my access to food for a while. I'm going to talk to my neighbors and plan community meals in the shared dining space, so we can prepare for the worst and get to know each other better.” - Bryce, a student in Mechanical Engineering, remarked in an interview.
Like Bryce said, the best way to prepare is to talk to your neighbors and make a plan. Stock up on food and brush up on your cooking skills together. We’ll need to share our resources and help each other through mutual aid to get by until UW Dining can reopen. This will take lots of preparation.
In addition to preparing our residential communities, now more than ever, workers demanding safe and healthy workplaces and fair pay, need student support. Their work is critical for the wellbeing of the wider university community.
UW Dining management has become severely out of touch with what workers and students are experiencing, they have sheltered themselves with six-figure salaries, while the people doing the work make minimum wage. At the end of our interview one worker said, “My coworkers and I feel like we've been completely abandoned by management.”
Workers are fighting hard every day to keep our dining facilities open, with little to no support. As students, we must support them until UW Dining management realizes their wrongdoing and agrees to invest in everyone’s wellbeing.
All Sources have been kept anonymous and names have been changed for privacy.
