[Muanet] Fwd: The Outsourcing of Walter's Cafe

[peta bowden]

Apologies for any cross posting...

>Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 12:35:42 +0800
>To: ssheacad, sshegen, sshe-postgrads@socs.murdoch.edu.au
>From: Alisha Ryans-Taylor <guildpre@central.murdoch.edu.au>
>Subject: The Outsourcing of Walter's Cafe
>Status:  
>
>Hi there,
>
>I am seeking support for the Guild's resistance to Walter's Cafe being
>involved in the university catering tendering process as a result of the
>end of Eurest's contract.
>
>Walter's Cafe has been included without Guild, staff or student
>consultation and should not be included for the following reasons:
>
>1. We were NOT consulted. The Guild General Manager and I were informed a
>few weeks ago that Walter's had been included in the initial documents as
>it was included in the catering survey with everyone else, (for which we
>are thankful for the feedback and have responded accordingly). However, the
>inclusion of Walter's Café in the full tendering process came as a shock.
>
>2. It has been put to the Guild that ALL campus catering is under review.
>Well the Asian Food Van isn't; they were involved in the campus survey
>along with us but do not have the potential of losing their catering outlet
>in this process. It is only the Eurest outlets that should be part of the
>tendering process.
>
>3. The Guild needs the income. Walter's Café is cashflow positive and with
>a longer term lease, has the potential to be much more profitable for the
>Guild. Why does the university want to remove income sources from the Guild
>and give them to an external body?
>
>4. The Guild is losing staff due to this process. If Walter's Café is taken
>over by an external body, three of our longest serving staff will require
>redundancy payouts to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The Guild
>cannot afford this cost, not to mention the loss of such loyal and skilled
>staff. Even with the tendering process alone we have lost key casual staff
>already, (believing that they were going to lose their jobs) to restaurants
>in Fremantle. Our other casual staff are seeking other employment and we
>now don't have enough staff to operate Walter's Café in peak times, (we are
>unable to fill the roster for next week).  It has also caused considerable
>anxiety amongst Guild staff at our other outlets, as they speculate whether
>their area is the next to be picked off.
>
>5. No one else has been consulted on the matter; staff, students, the
>library who were involved in our original contractual arrangements, no one
>was asked what the impact of this decision would be.
>
>6. The Guild will lose a key profile raising venue and site for
>distributing material about the other services that the Guild offers and
>clubs and societies will lose the ability to advertise through the café.
>
>7. Students will lose their discount that they receive at Walter's Café as
>Guild members - a key recruiting tool for the Guild.
>
>8. Our supply deals will fall apart. Without Walter's we will not be able
>to service the Tavern, Sport and Recreation Centre and front office with
>products at the same rate, including coffee.
>
>9. We will no longer be able to self-cater our functions so the income from
>functions will be heavily diminished with increased supplier costs.
>
>10. Fewer people will join the Guild, (especially staff members who join
>for their discounts on Walter's food and coffee).
>
>11.  Our staff are now pushed to the emotional limit. The human cost of
>this move has not being considered. Some staff at Walter's have been with
>the Guild for over seven years and sudden talks of redundancy has caused a
>lot of stress for our permanent employees.
>
>12. The Guild wishes to invest further in Walter's Cafe, (add a kitchen, a
>mezzanine floor, etc) but hasn't so far due to one year lease agreements.
>The Guild wishes to gain a longer term lease so that we can invest further
>in providing a better service.
>
>What will the university lose?
>
>1. The Guild's trust for one. I cannot believe that this can occur under a
>'spirit of co-operation' that we have been trying to develop over the last
>nine months.
>
>2. The university will need to further subsidise the Guild to not only meet
>the immediate costs, (staff entitlements) but also for the ongoing losses
>from not having Walter's Café and membership income.
>
>3. Reputation. Students will no doubt protest at the loss of their jobs and
>the loss of a student-run service and this will reflect badly on the
>university to the tendering companies and the community, especially at a
>key time for student recruitment.
>
>If you support Guild control of Walter's Cafe I strongly urge you to write
>an e-mail to guildpre@central.murdoch.edu.au so that it can be forwarded on
>to the VC. Please also forward this e-mail to any lists you are involved
>with as I doubt that a request for this to be sent via mailbomb would be
>granted.
>
>Thankyou for taking the time to read this plea.
>
>Highest regards,
>
>Alisha Ryans-Taylor
>
>--------------------------------
>Alisha Ryans-Taylor
>Guild President, 2002
>Murdoch University Student Guild
>--------------------------------