Faculty Call On SFU to Stop Outsourcing Janitorial Work

As Simon Fraser University considers a new contract for cleaning services, a group of staff and faculty members is calling for the university to stop outsourcing food and janitor services.

Since it was established, the university has contracted out its cleaning services. It is currently considering bids for a contract that could last up to nine years.

On Sept. 1, on behalf of 67 faculty and SFU community members, associate professor Enda Brophy sent an open letter to the university and the provincial government calling on the university to change course.

“Beyond the misuse of public funds, outsourcing is morally dubious from a labour rights perspective,” the letter said. “The situation is even more disturbing given the repeated public reports of misconduct by the contractor.”

But Jeff Hodson, a spokesperson for SFU, said in an email the university doesn’t have the capacity to bring janitorial services in-house — and that it wouldn’t be financially viable.

“Outsourced service delivery remains the most effective and sustainable approach for meeting the university's operational needs,” Hodson said.

Still, support for the letter continues to grow. At the time of publication, more than 100 of SFU’s approximately 1,100 faculty members had signed on to the letter. It’s the latest in a series of calls for SFU to bring janitors and food service workers into direct employment.

Contract workers and some students and faculty at the university have been warning SFU administration for years that contracting out food and janitorial services has led to poor working conditions.

In 2022, a coalition of students, staff and faculty members called Contract Worker Justice published a report based on 21 anonymous worker testimonials sounding the alarm on excessive workloads, inadequate health and safety protections and discriminatory and abusive management practices.

Hodson said that between 2021 and 2022, the university conducted an internal review of the feasibility of bringing janitorial services in-house.

The report was conducted by Deloitte. An excerpt of the report provided to The Tyee said insourcing janitorial work could promote equity and diversity, reduce janitor turnover and increase SFU’s control over service quality.

But it also outlined risks. The report noted SFU has no history of running janitorial or food service operations, which could lead revenue levels to drop as the university builds that capacity. It warns insourcing, and offering staff access to paid absences, could mean staff show up less frequently.

And Deloitte warned the cost of these services could increase, leading to more expensive food on campus.

“In most scenarios, janitorial costs increase and food service profits decrease,” the report said.