The University of Oregon’s Housing Department offers a $200 incentive, often referred to as the Week of Welcome or Early Return Bonus, for student staff returning the week before classes start. In order to qualify, students must work at least 32 hours during Week of Welcome.
When first introduced in 2022, this bonus amounted to $300 and increased to $500 in Fall 2023. For Fall 2024, this bonus has been lowered by $300.
In an email statement to the Daily Emerald, UO said, “University Housing University Dining has offered bonus incentives post-pandemic at our discretion. The bonus offered each year depends on the expected availability of student workers to meet the demand on service and budgeted fiscal resources…Whether to offer the bonuses, and the amount, has always been determined by and at the discretion of the University.”
As student dining workers both deserve and depend on that $500 bonus, lowering it by $300 was an uncalled-for decision by University Housing. Students sacrifice enough by choosing to work Week of Welcome in the first place and are owed proper bonuses as a result.
The Week of Welcome bonus compensates students for two major inconveniences: returning early to campus and working at least 32 hours — significantly more hours than typical for students.
As both requests complicate student workers’ return to school, the $500 bonus is well-deserved.
“UO lowering the sign-on bonus…has drastically changed what people thought they could expect as they returned to their on-campus jobs. I know several coworkers who rely on that $500,” UO second-year and University Catering employee, Lili’u Hayashida-Knight said.
For the average student, $300 makes a huge difference in financial security. This bonus decrease could mean not being able to afford rent, groceries or academic expenses on top of the already expensive process of moving and preparing for a new school year.
The dining hall employee job is difficult enough as it is, but without sufficient incentive to work a nearly full-time quantity of hours during one of the most understaffed weeks of the year, the strain is too much, especially for students just returning to Eugene.
“I liked my job last year, but there were some issues with allotted break times, personal issues between coworkers and excessive micromanagement from higher-up full-time staff,” Hayashida-Knight continued. “My coworkers and I are not allowed sufficient time for breaks when we are far from dining halls for catered events.”
For the most part, students remain disengaged from the struggles of dining employees, including their bargaining efforts. Hayashida-Knight added, “The general UO population doesn’t seem to care very much about our fight for a contract, and most people haven’t even heard about it… I think they sometimes look down on people working in dining even though it is a completely valid position to hold.”
Moving forward, the University of Oregon Student Workers’ “Dining Bonus Petition” demands that University Housing “immediately cease and desist any planned implementation of this change until the parties have exhausted their bargaining obligations,” should be upheld. Such impactful policy changes cannot be made without the input of the workers it affects.
UO stated, “The University is currently in negotiations with the UOSW union and recognizes that UOSW has the opportunity to include proposals at the bargaining table that address the incentives used in helping the University staff dining during the Week of Welcome.”
Despite the early return bonus being lowered, University Housing must make other, positive changes to benefit their student workers.
“I strongly believe student employees — especially those in dining and catering —should receive a shift meal every time we work or at least have $1 meals like the full-time employees,” Hayashida-Knight said.
No student job should be a thankless task, especially jobs that offer you low wages, no shift meal and monthly paydays. Students who qualify for the Week of Welcome bonus deserve the full $500 for their sacrifice and the arduous task at hand: dealing with the hungry demands of brand-new freshmen.