Hidden Inequities: COVID-19’s Impact on GSB’s Subcontracted Employees
Written by: Isabel Andrade and Claudio González
On September 30th, all 35 Arbuckle Cafe employees were terminated by their direct employer, Bon Appetit. The news came after months of grueling uncertainty and great economic need. No member of the GSB administration contacted them to offer any parting words of gratitude, nor was the GSB community notified of this action.
The magnitude and severity of COVID-19 hit the GSB at the start of March. In the blur of figuring out mode of instruction, safety in the residences, and what school would look like going forward, the university largely ignored the plight of some of its most vulnerable members: subcontracted employees.
On March 9th, all GSB classes shifted to virtual instruction. A week later, on March 16th, Coupa Cafe and Bon Appetit asked employees to stay home. California issued the shelter-in-place order on March 19th, and, in the following days, Bon Appetit and Coupa Cafe started to furlough all of their frontline employees, sending them on an indefinite leave of absence with no pay.
Similar mass furloughs and layoffs were taking place across the university. In response, student organizers ran fundraising campaigns and pressured university administrators to support subcontracted employees.
On April 15th, after pressure from students and alumni built up, Provost Drell sent an email publicly committing to work with contract firms so that, “with Stanford resources and the resources offered by the government, these firms will be supported in maintaining income and benefits for these employees through June 15.” For subcontracted employees at the GSB, this promise never materialized.
Arbuckle employees received no advice on how to file for unemployment. Several GSB students volunteered to help them file applications. But for many, this help arrived late. According to Elías Alonso, who worked at Arbuckle Cafe for 15 years, “unemployment benefits didn’t arrive until 2 to 3 months after I’d been furloughed from Arbuckle. Maybe I made a mistake when I was filing for unemployment, I don’t know. The company didn’t offer us any guidance on how to do this complicated paperwork.”
Rosalba Maciel and her husband Francisco Ponce, both of whom worked at Arbuckle, are each receiving $450 per week as unemployment benefits, which is less than half of what they were earning as full time employees. Rosalba explained what losing employer-sponsored healthcare meant for her and other former Arbuckle employees: “some of my colleagues recently came out of surgery and are wondering — how will I be able to pay for my recovery? It’s terrifying.”
Additional economic support for former employees has come through the COVID-19 stimulus check. Yet government aid is not a realistic option for many. According to a current Coupa employee, “many of us do not qualify for these benefits. If it wasn’t for my neighbors coming together to help my family pay rent, I don’t know where I’d be now.”
This precariousness has also impacted employees’ families abroad. A former Arbuckle employee, who preferred to remain unnamed as she is seeking asylum status, was with the company for only three months before she was furloughed. She left El Salvador in 2017 after her husband was murdered by a drug gang. She now lives in East Palo Alto with her 10 year old son, but her 15 year old daughter remains back home. Losing her job means she can now barely make ends meet and has no extra money to send home to her daughter.
While the MBA class that arrived this fall is the largest ever, the GSB community has shrunk elsewhere. Along with all 35 Arbuckle employees, the GSB Coupa Cafe staff was reduced by 11 people and UG2, the company that provides facility maintenance services at the GSB, has laid off two janitors.
The GSB administration failed to support these 48 former members of the community in the difficult months that followed the school’s shift to remote instruction. It also failed to show empathy and care when parting with them. It must do better in the future. As for the rest of us: there’s still things we can do today. The GSB Gives Back and Challenge for Charity could fundraise to support ex Arbuckle, Coupa, and UG2 employees that are struggling to make ends meet. Social clubs that rely on deliveries, like FOAM or the Wine Club, could offer employment to the people who, until recently, warmly shared this space with us. Finally, we can each do our part to connect with, show appreciation for and support the essential workers that continue to show up for us every day.
