Service Work at the University of Toronto

At the University of Toronto, facilities departments aim “to facilitate the Academic Mission of Excellence in research and teaching by providing a safe, clean, healthy, comfortable and sustainable environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors.” In this report, we explore the labour involved in creating such an environment. Specifically, we focus on the workers involved in providing caretaking, security and food services on the campus. We highlight the wages and working conditions of these campus service workers who are tasked with providing environments where excellence can be fostered. Data analyzed include interviews with workers, contracts and vendor agreements obtained through freedom of information requests, and maps developed. Our findings suggest the emergence of a two-tier workforce on campus. Subcontracted workers have poorer wages, working conditions and labour protections compared to directly employed workers. The trend towards subcontracting leads to increased vulnerability amongst all service workers on campus and an erosion of labour standards inconsistent with the university’s focus on excellence.