Students say campus cleanliness is 'disappointing' as Western strike drags into 3rd week

Some Western University students have observed a level of cleanliness on campus that they say is questionable as a strike by facilities workers enters its third week. 

Members of CUPE local 2361, which includes caretakers, groundskeepers and landscapers, walked off the job on Aug. 30 after talks with the university broke down. 

Since then, Western has said it will ensure all campus activities run smoothly, but some students still say the garbage bins are overflowing and residences are dirty.

"I'm used to a very clean, very kept, very maintained campus and I'm not really seeing that," said Manuga Hewa Pathirana, a fourth-year software engineering student at Western. "It's a very big change."

Hewa Pathirana said he saw packed recycling bins and unkempt bathrooms during his first day of classes at the school's Spencer Engineering Building.

"There were toilet paper and paper towels just lying about. It wasn't sanitary," said Hewa Pathirana. 

The two sides were bargaining for two months before the union voted in favour of a strike, with increased wages and hiring the main sticking points. The union said a caretaker currently earns $23.32 per hour at Western, while other institutions of similar size pay upward of $29. 

"Our members really care about the students and really care about the campus," said Chris Yates, the vice-president of CUPE 2361. "That's why they've remained working here so long, even though a lot of them just can't afford to continue working here."

Western has responded in email statements to request for comment, saying it is "committed to ensuring the fall term runs as smoothly as possible."

'I just want to live in a clean environment'

The school has hired outside cleaners and maintenance workers, whom the student say they have seen around campus. But for some, the quality of work isn't what they'd expect.

"It's obviously really disappointing because when you're moving in, you're expecting the place to at least be clean, and [my residence] looked like it hadn't been cleaned for several months," said Kieran Fong, who lives at Western's Alumni House building.

Fong, who is a master's of media in journalism and communication student, said there were brown and purple stains on the floor of his suite-style accommodation when he moved in.

"I wasn't necessarily expecting it to be absolutely spotless, but I wasn't expecting stains to be on the floors," Fong said. "It was definitely worse than I expected."

For students living in the traditional-style Medway-Sydenham Hall, just down the road from Alumni Hall, the living experience has been mixed.

"I'm still having a great time and I'm still in very livable conditions in this residence," said Alexa Armour, a first-year MIT student who lives in the building.

Armour said the dining hall and bathrooms are clean and she noticed that paper towels were constantly restocked in facilities, but that isn't the case for fellow resident Kira Stafford. She says the paper towels have been missing from her floor's bathroom for multiple days. 

"There are care staff that are brought in, but they're not doing that good of a job," said Stafford, who is a first-year psychology student. "They're kind of there for the big stuff, like the trash in the bathrooms and those overarching things."

Late to class due to road closures

Students say that beyond campus maintenance, the strike is also making it more difficult for them to move through campus since the university closed the roads into and out of the property. It has said safety is a concern with pickets set up at some entrances..

As a result of the strike, the London Transit Commission has also stopped running buses through campus, with detours on nine routes listed on the commission's website.

"It might be a little high maintenance for me to complain about, but the walk is kind of a pain in the butt," said Armour. 

Hewa Pathirana said several of his peers have been late to classes due to the road closures and challenges finding parking. 

"I just hope that Western does what it's supposed to do for the benefit of the workers and that campus goes back to its regular scheduled programming," said Hewa Pathirana.