UW Bothell Vendor Equity
Concern:
UW Bothell has allowed a private investment firm to award exclusive control of campus food options to Aramark Food Services for the next ten years.
Aramark is known for exploitative business practices against students, company employees, and incarcerated people; including numerous serious and ongoing labor, safety, and environmental violations. Since 2000, Aramark has been found liable for nearly $20 million in compensation in 131 legal cases. Aramark is currently subject to a class action lawsuit for using forced, uncompensated labor of pretrial detainees in California.
Aramark was chosen without community input or accountability by the property management and private equity investment firm building the new Residential Village student housing. The ten-year contract grants Aramark exclusive rights to catering events on campus, operation of the POD, and all dining options on campus while Cascadia College searches for a replacement to Stopwatch Espresso.
Response:
Aramark's access to students in a visible and symbolic role on campus shows why we need to center community input and ensure accountability when choosing vendors. The UW Supplier Code of Conduct includes terms requiring that vendors (and subcontractors) on campus may not use forced labor, must pay minimum wages, and must ensure other basic human rights for their workers. The Statement of Business Equity for the University of Washington lays out policy for the vendor selection process:
It is the policy of the University of Washington to:
Reach out to and engage businesses whose ownership is representative of the richly diverse community we serve;
Establish and maintain inclusive contracting and procurement practices that support local, small, minority- and women-owned business engagement;
Provide leadership in business equity and inclusion in a way that promotes opportunity, reflects transparency, and supports the economy of the state of Washington;
We believe existing UW policy should have prevented the Aramark contract. If the Aramark third-party contract is valid, then our procurement processes and policies must be revised to ensure the University of Washington Bothell is engaging and supporting the diverse, equitable, and socially responsible businesses our communities deserve.
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