As UC Davis and Sodexho officials continue to discuss improved employment conditions for food service workers, Vice Chancellor Janet Gong says she wants to hear from another interested party: students who pay the bills.

Sodexho already announced that it has established an independent third-party grievance system, introduced the UC Davis Principles of Community to employees and boosted wages consistent with UC's recent pay increases for its lowest-paid workers.

Also, Sodexho officials say that by June 15 they will deliver a proposal to further improve the company's compensation plan.

"We are endeavoring to respond to the important issues that have been raised while also being vigilant about student affordability," Gong, interim head of Student Affairs, wrote in a letter to the campus community on the eve of a May 23 protest on behalf of Sodexho workers.

The protest at Mrak Hall resulted in the arrests of 15 people — all of whom had made it inside the campus's main administration building despite security measures associated with the protest. Once inside, the 15 protesters went to Room 203, a large, second-floor conference room that was unoccupied at the time, and hung protest banners out windows that face the north side of Mrak.

Among those arrested were eight students and recent graduates; among the eight were at least three current or former Sodexho employees. There were no Sodexho employees among the seven other people who were arrested; this group included a UC Davis teaching assistant.

Outside Mrak, about 75 other protesters surrounded the building, chanting, banging drums, banging the glass doors and blaring sirens for three hours.

Gong and Dennis Shimek, executive vice chancellor for Human Resources, met with the protesters in Room 203 and, according to Shimek, secured their agreement to leave the building. When they reached the lobby, police said, the protesters staged a sit-in — and the arrests followed. Police said the arrests occurred without incident.

The 15, each arrested on misdemeanor charges of trespassing, unlawful assembly and assembly for the purpose of disturbing the peace, were taken by bus to the Yolo County Jail in Woodland; all were booked and given notices to appear in court, then released without bail around 8:45 p.m.

The protest followed two others in May: a march that resulted in 24 arrests on Russell Boulevard just off campus on May 1; and the disruption of Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef's brown bag chat with the campus community on May 3.

Gong's letter, e-mailed to the campus community, posted online and handed out to the protesters on May 23, addressed concerns about Sodexho's employment practices, wages and benefits, and the push by a union and its supporters to have the university take on Sodexho workers as UC Davis employees. The union is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which already represents numerous classifications on campus.

Gong noted that the university has a contract with Sodexho through 2010, and "we have chosen to honor this contract and seek ways within it to approach the compensation and employment practices that are at issue."

She said the university estimates the cost of providing improved wages and more affordable benefits to Sodexho workers at $2.1 million annually. "This is a significant recurring cost that cannot readily be absorbed within the existing university budget," she wrote.

She added that the burden of paying the extra cost would likely fall on students who rely on Sodexho service in the dining halls and elsewhere on campus. "Being mindful of the additional costs our students would face and consistent with the chancellor's commitment to address these issues, we are exploring a variety of strategies to improve wages and benefits."

$600 more per year

These phased strategies could potentially include housing rate and meal plan increases, price increases for student union food and facility use, temporary use of housing and student union capital reserves to buy down costs during a transition, and-or a student referendum.

Gong also gave an estimate of the cost of converting Sodexho workers to the UC Davis payroll: a minimum of $3.2 million a year, including wages and benefits, administrative costs and capital expenses. "Such an increase would mean that students living in residence halls could pay $600 more per year — a cost increase that would move UC Davis from one of the least expensive to one of the most expensive UC campuses in total room and board," she wrote.

"Given the likely and substantial impact on students, I believe it is critical to consult with established student governance groups."

On May 25, she e-mailed representatives of the ASUCD, the Campus Unions and Recreation Board, the Residence Hall Advisory Board, the Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee, and the student assistants to the chancellor, inviting them to join in a discussion of the Sodexho issues and potential remedies that may, "in all likelihood, affect students (both as residents of Student Housing and as consumers of services or products delivered by our student unions), and student affordability generally."

In her May 23 letter, Gong said she and several other administrators met with a group of student food service workers and a union organizer on May 1, the day of the first large protest of the month.

"We listened carefully to their concerns," Gong wrote. "We have attempted to meet again with this group to continue discussion, but to date (May 23) the group has not confirmed its availability for such a meeting." She added that the university is committed to continuing discussions.

In a Sodexho letter dated May 18 and posted online with Gong's, the company's senior vice president, Bill Lacey, pointed out that the company in 2003 voluntarily elected to follow the Sacramento Living Wage policy, and that the company believes "our compensation is competitive within our industry."

Nevertheless, he added, "We have recently undertaken an internal review of our associate compensation plans, including hourly wages and the cost of health care coverage."

The letters are posted at studentaffairs.ucdavis.edu/about/update_letter.cfm.