In an interview with The Hoot, two members of Revolutionary Student Organization (RSO) Brandeis spoke about the recent delegation that they held on Sept. 20.

According to the group’s Instagram, RSO “joined dining workers in a labor delegation to demand that workers be paid back the money which was stolen from them by Harvest Table, as well as the damages which they are legally entitled to,” adding that “the bosses at Harvest Table continue to exploit and disrespect workers while still not paying workers back the money they stole. Because of this, the dining workers’ union @uniteherelocal26 will file charges against Harvest Table with the MA attorney general if workers are not repaid the money stolen from them in addition to damages by this coming Wednesday, September 27.”

In the interview, the RSO members told The Hoot that the delegation lasted for about an hour, and there were about 10 students total in attendance, along with several dining workers. The RSO members added that the delegation encountered Kory Laznick, Harvest Table’s District Manager and other “managerial” individuals.

The RSO members went on to say that “union stewards talked to management, saying ‘we have missing funds, you stole our funds and you owe us three times back according to Massachusetts law.’” The RSO members went on, saying that management responded by saying, “‘you are correct. We have failed to pay you.’” They added that, as far as they know, the workers have not been paid.

Speaking specifically on the missing funds, the RSO members noted that “some workers have had up to $300 stolen from them each week as a result of … so-called ‘computer errors.’ This is not something that would be acceptable if it was happening to [a student], and [other] students would rally around them. The same should be the case when it’s happening to dining workers.”

They noted that they “can’t say concretely that this is widespread among other workers at Brandeis. … While [we’re] not saying that it is happening due to malpractice here, it has happened in the past where the bosses will use computer errors in order to steal money from workers. … Over the past few weeks it’s become more widespread with more significant amounts of money being stolen from people.” 

The RSO members noted that this is “predominantly being done [by] overcharging for people’s insurance plans, the majority of which is … supposed to be covered by Harvest Table. But they’re just charging more money to workers [than they should be]. [Another instance] includes union dues, [which are generally] around $14. [We] know there was an instance in March where one worker was charged significantly more, a sum of over $150, … which is completely obscene. [Union due overcharging] was just not as widespread of an issue and [we] believe it’s been resolved.”

The RSO members clarified further, noting that “during the delegation on Wednesday, September 20th, management also said that they would be attempting to pay some of this money back.” The union gave Harvest Table a deadline of Sept. 27, which was pushed back to Sept. 29 as of the time of writing. 

They added that this deadline was pushed back by Harvest Table because “they’re saying that they’re still having trouble with their computer systems,” which the RSO doubts because other universities that rely on Aramark or Aramark-subsidiary services have reportedly not experienced and publicized similar issues. The RSO members also noted a “second explanation being given by Harvest Table, [which] is that they’re just running it up the administrative chain and they’re having trouble getting permission to give money back. This is also an unacceptable answer. If these managers were having however big of a percentage taken out of their paycheck, they would not be okay with their boss giving them the run around about how they’re getting their money back.”

As of the time of writing, RSO members said that some workers had been paid back some of what they were owed, but to the best of their knowledge “nobody got all of the money they were owed.” Another problem raised by the RSO members was that this money was having deductions taken out of it, which was problematic because deductions had already been taken out when the money was taken from the workers’ paychecks. 

Speaking on their organization’s goals, the RSO members added that “the purpose of our organization is to serve the revolutionary and progressive struggle as it manifests itself in the community and on campus. This means that we support workers on campus. This means that we support progressive initiatives in our local community, including mutual aid efforts and labor solidarity with workers in the community. This also means engaging in anti-imperialist and anti-fascist actions in the community as we have done and we plan to continue to do.”

More information about the RSO can be found in their Points of Unity and Code of Conduct, which can be accessed through their Instagram page.