Change Aramark Now: Coalition for Food Service Reform

Thank you to Tim for posting on Brandeis dining, specifically Aramark’s waning contract.

The good news? A Brandeis student campaign has already begun to seize this opportunity and reform our food services. There has been much discussion about switching providers, presumably to a rival corporation such as Sodexo or Compass Group. However, as Tim mentioned Aramark’s ties to Brandeis will be extremely difficult to sever. This is not necessarily a bad thing: Aramark has already made positive changes at Brandeis, such as compost, and has gone even further at other universities. John Hopkins, NYU, Baylor, Penn State, and Vassar, for example, have sustainable dining programs that we can demand as well. Aramark, with its record of health, labor, and environmental violations, is actually rumored to be quite receptive to student demands. I have confidence that a well-organized group of campus activists can succeed in a series of reforms.

And so I introduce…Brandeis Coalition for Food Service Reform

View the categories we plan on addressing after the jump.

These are some of the things we plan on discussing. A more formal list of demands will be published soon.

1. Campus Dining Workers:

The University must research the problem of under-staffing and overwork in order to give all dining employees fair hours.

2. Workplace Conditions/Safety:

The University and third party inspectors should engage in regular health and safety inspections.

3. Environmental Sustainability in Dining Halls:

Dining halls should use renewable materials; reduce packaging waste, energy use, and emissions; and address the problem of Agro processors.

4. Food Options

Dining halls should make ingredients and nutrition information available, reduce the use of common allergens, offer later dining hours, increase the availability of Kosher/Halal foods, maintain the current availability of vegan/vegetarian options, and improve the health of available foods by reducing grease, adding fresh produce, etc.

5. Food Sustainability

Dining halls should purchase more local and organic food.

6. Financial Transparency

Meal plans should aim for dollar-dining dollar equivalency, accounting for unused meals.

7. Additional Clause: All current full-time employees must maintain their employment under Brandeis dining services, no matter what changes occur. Any new employer must be union-friendly.

We are still drafting our preliminary list of demands, so there is plenty of room for additions, elaborations, and supplements to this list.

Get involved now!

Join the facebook group Brandeis Coalition for Dining Service Reform

Come to our first meeting: 10:00 PM in the Pearlman Lounge, Monday, October 6^th.

Turn your Aramark complaints into effective change on campus!