Yale dining services employees cite safety concerns over move to central production facility

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — As Yale Dining workers and University administrators discuss concerns about the relocation of certain dining services to the new Culinary Support Center, some dining employees are also expressing unease about their chances of being injured on the job.

At the start of the semester, the University moved cold food production to the CSC in an effort to increase efficiency. In the wake of the move, Silliman chef Stuart Comen submitted a letter in the form of a paid advertisement to the News expressing dissatisfaction with the CSC on many counts, including food quality, working conditions and job preservation. Many other Yale Dining workers have also voiced their discontent through the Local 35 union, which represents the University’s blue-collar workers.

Injuries in dining services are not entirely uncommon. Still, workers fear that moving to the CSC has exacerbated the risk of job-related harm.

Workers said there is a particular mismatch between their abilities and the tasks that are expected of them.

“We are carrying things that are way too heavy,” said a CSC pantry worker who wished to remain anonymous due to concerns over job security.

But Yale Dining administrators have defended the CSC’s safety record, arguing that the facility and the department’s procedures are designed to ensure workers’ safety.

According to the worker, the increased risks of working in the CSC stem mainly from the large volume of food that workers are now tasked with preparing each day.

Comen said many of the older workers at the CSC are ill-fitted for the increased physicality of their jobs at the new center.

“It is just a young person’s job,” Comen said. “I was 20 years old when I was doing the vegetable job.”

Comen added that morale has been low among dining hall staff this year, largely because head pantry workers who serve as leaders in the kitchen are now two miles away from campus.