By Ben Lauren PZ ’25

On Monday, Nov. 25, the afternoon before students picketed outside McConnell Dining Hall, Pitzer College’s dining services management cut the shifts of four student workers scheduled for that night. The picket served as part of the third boycott this month organized by the Claremont Student & Worker Alliance (CSWA) in support of Adan Campos.

Management cancelled the students’ shifts just hours before their scheduled start times, costing them upwards of four and half hours of pay in what CSWA representative Krasi Staykov PO ’25 believes was an act of direct retaliation against their boycotts.

“This is a first,” Staykov said. “We’ve never seen this on any of the other boycotts even though we’ve called them on similar timelines and for similar meals. So it seems like Pitzer is really scrambling.”

The boycotts are the latest escalation by CSWA in a months-long effort in support of Campos as he attempts to rejoin the kitchen at McConnell after Pitzer’s catering service Bon Appétit Management Company terminated him in February. This semester, CSWA has organized a number of actions to pressure Pitzer into giving Campos a fair hiring process. These included creating a petition signed by over 1,300 students, delegating several times to the Human Resources office and to administrators, sponsoring a Student Senate bill, and in November, holding boycotts of Pitzer dining.

According to Staykov, while most Pitzer workers are protected by the UNITE HERE! Local 11 union, student workers are not members of the union and therefore easy targets for alleged retaliation.

“If you’re a union worker, you can’t [lose your shift] last minute in the same way,” Staykov said. “[They] get protections, but these [student] employees unfortunately do not have them.” 

While Pitzer and Bon Appétit are legally allowed to do this, Enoch Kim PZ ’25, one of the student workers whose regular Monday shift was cut, stated that it is an incredibly rare practice. He explained that since he began working in the dining hall at the start of the fall 2023 semester, his managers have never cancelled student worker shifts at the last minute.

“The general consensus is that aside from holidays, breaks, and reading [days], this has never happened,” Kim said.

Pitzer’s Director of Operations and Catering Vania Hernández emailed Kim about the cancellation at 12:48 p.m. on Monday, less than four hours before his 4:30 p.m. shift was scheduled to start.

“The email reads, ‘Hi all, tonight we’re expecting low numbers, so we will need to cancel your shift for tonight,’” Kim said.

Despite the reference to “low numbers” in the email, Kim stated that dining hall management has been largely silent on CSWA’s organizing this semester.

“In terms of explicit rhetoric that management has talked to us about, I have not heard them say anything about boycotts or the protests,” Kim said.

Additionally, Pitzer’s Assistant Vice President of College Communications Wendy Shattuck declined to comment on whether the cut shifts were in retaliation to, or even in response to the boycotts.

“The College will not have a statement on this,” Shattuck said in an email to The Outback.

Hernández did not respond for comment by time of publication, but Kim highlighted how she and the dining management team have been consistently accommodating to himself and his coworkers during his time there.

“Vania is actually an incredible manager,” Kim said. “The scheduling is absolutely a nightmare and students call in [saying they’re] not going to be here really last minute, which makes things tough for management. She’s always on top of shift distribution.”

In an effort to help support these students, Staykov stated that on Monday night, CSWA had set up a fundraiser on campus to compensate them for all money lost.

“We’re in touch with those workers, and we are planning to do some mutual aid work to make sure that everyone whose shift was affected by this is getting money so that they’re compensated as they should have been by Pitzer,” Staykov said.

According to Kim, the emergency fund was an immediate success.

“Obviously, a lot of student workers like [myself] need the money to pay for school, but thankfully, it actually really ended up working out,” Kim said. “CSWA already raised all the money that we need to cover all the student work … That’s $240 raised within 24 hours.”

Shattuck declined to comment on whether Pitzer would be compensating the student workers in any capacity.

Nevertheless, for Kim, a cut shift meant something other than missing a paycheck. With some of his closest ties on campus being with his coworkers at the dining hall, he lost out on time spent with his friends.

“I really enjoy working at the dining hall,” Kim said. “This may sound weird, but it’s one of my favorite places to be. I love the people that I work with …so I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to come that day.”

Social caption:

On Nov. 25, the afternoon before students picketed outside McConnell Dining Hall, Pitzer College’s dining services management cut the shifts of four student workers scheduled for that night. The picket was part of a boycott organized by the Claremont Student & Worker Alliance (CSWA) in support of Adan Campos.

Management canceled the students’ shifts just hours before their scheduled start times, costing them upwards of four and half hours of pay in what CSWA representative Krasi Staykov PO ’25 believed was in retaliation to their boycotts.

“We’ve never seen this on any of the other boycotts even though we’ve called them on similar timelines and for similar meals,” Staykov said. “So it seems like Pitzer is really scrambling.”

According to Staykov, while most Pitzer workers are protected by the union, student workers are not members of the union and therefore targets for alleged retaliation.

Enoch Kim PZ ’25, one of the student workers whose shift was cut, explained that since he started working at McConnell over a year ago, his managers have never canceled student worker shifts last minute.

Pitzer’s Director of Operations and Catering Vania Hernández emailed Kim about the cancellation at 12:48 p.m. on Monday, less than four hours before his shift, citing “low numbers.”

Kim stated that dining hall management has been largely silent on CSWA’s organizing this semester. Additionally, Pitzer’s Asst. VP of Communications Wendy Shattuck declined to comment if the cut shifts were in retaliation or response to the boycotts.

Hernández did not respond for comment, but Kim highlighted how she and the management team have consistently accommodated him and his coworkers.

“Vania is an incredible manager,” Kim said. “Scheduling is absolutely a nightmare. Students call in [saying they’re] not going to be here last minute, which makes things tough for management.”

To support these students, Staykov stated that CSWA started a mutual aid fund to compensate them for money lost, which Kim said was an immediate success.

“A lot of student workers like [myself] need the money to pay for school, but thankfully … CSWA raised all the money that we need … That’s $240 raised within 24 hours,” Kim said.