Mount A food staff get termination notice: 'All that's up in the air'

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Jason Tower has been working in the dining hall at Mount Allison University since he was 16 years old, and he has seen many students come and go.

But when a new school year begins in September, Tower does not know if he and his co-workers will have a job to come back to.

Tower and the other food service workers received termination notices from their employer Aramark Canada Ltd., which had the contract to deliver dining service at the university. Their termination comes into effect on April 30.

Last September, Tower, who is also the president of CUPE Local 1440, said he was told the university was putting out a request for proposals for a food service provider, but was reassured there was nothing to worry about because they were enjoying the service from Aramark.

Yet, by January they were notified that Aramark had lost the contract, and in February they had received their termination papers. There were about 45 people affected, and some of them have been doing dining service at Mount A for over 50 years, Tower said.

In a statement on Monday, Chris Collom, a spokesperson for Aramark, said their agreement with Mount Allison had “concluded.”

“It is our understanding that affected employees will have an opportunity to apply for positions with the University’s new provider,” Collom said. “We are also working with impacted employees to access other job opportunities within our company.”

Tower said they have not heard many details about the future from Aramark or the university, but noted they did not receive severance from the company.

He added there are concerns about if the new provider will respect their existing contract, seniority, or other factors like sick days and pension if employees are taken on by the next company

“We don’t know if they’re going to honour our wage, we don’t even know if they’re going to honour the union,” Tower said. “All that’s up in the air.”

Tower said he knows how difficult it is to negotiate with a new employer. When Sodexho provided the university’s food service and lost the contract to Aramark 17 years ago, he recalls having to go through a new collective agreement and negotiating for sick days and pension.

When a new provider is announced, Tower said he hopes they will honour their contract and keep on the staff.

“It would be nice to have a contract in place before we start working,” he said.

Typically, the staff get laid off in April, and work sporadically when the university has events and camps over the summer, such as the convocation in May. So far, there has been no news on the next provider, Tower said.

“It’s hard because the members are asking me and I don’t have answers,” he said, adding some employees had rent and vehicles to pay for and were worried about their future finances.

Robert Inglis, the university’s vice-president of finance and administration, said in a statement Mount Allison is subject to procurement legislation, which requires it participate in an “open and competitive” procurement process for goods and services.

“As part of those requirements and norms within the University sector, the University continuously reviews supplier contracts. We are currently going through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for dining services,” said Inglis.

“As a publicly funded institution, the University must adhere to procurement legislation and follow appropriate practices. At this time, we are unable to comment further until the procurement process is complete.”

Geoff Martin, executive director of the Mount Allison Faculty Association, said in an email the association is aware of the tendering for food service.

“We are skeptical of a process that appears to disadvantage a current company and the local work force because the external bidders know they will have non-union employees,” said Martin. “This is not a community-building process and Mount Allison’s constituencies should be engaged to find a more just alternative.”

Tower said he would like to see contract succession rights in the province, so when a company wins a contract for services it must respect the contract the previous company had with the workers.

For Tower and his colleagues, it is not just about a job, but also about the people they work with and students they interact with on a daily basis.

He has many memories of students over the years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dining services remained open after the campus shut down to serve students who were not able to get home right away.

The food service workers delivered food to students who were quarantining in the residences. Tower remembers speaking to one of those students who was doing close to two weeks of isolation in her dorm room and needed someone to talk to.

“I think we’re pretty important for Mount Allison. We have a huge responsibility,” he said, noting the students’ wellbeing was their top priority. “We wanted to make them have a good experience. It’s their first place away from home. They’re nervous.”

During their four years at the university, the students get to know the staff in the dining hall, and they have watched his children grow up.

“It’s kind of like a family for us,” said Tower.