Raw Deal: Sushi Café Scandal Erupts

Wesleyan Argus:

Every day, behind the first floor Usdan Center Café, several Asian workers who recently arrived in America and barely speak English roll sushi for the students of Wesleyan University. These non-union workers, who are paid by Advanced Fresh Concepts (AFC), a California-based food contractor, work side by side with union-backed Wesleyan dining employees. The union workers are now alleging that these employees are not receiving health benefits, are being forced to lie about their conditions, and are receiving their salaries in the form of non-documented, under-the-table transactions.

Irene Jackson, a cashier at the same café who has worked at Wesleyan for 15 and a-half years, believes she saw the tail end of one of these purported transactions.

‘When I was leaving one day from work, the sushi guy was making a delivery and as he was leaving he had a handful—a stack—of money in his hand as well as a receipt,’ Jackson said, demonstrating with a handful of napkins. ‘If I was making a delivery, I wouldn’t have had that much money if I wasn’t given it. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out: he just got paid.’

Raquel Adorno, a union steward who works as a second cook at Usdan, says that the sushi rollers aren’t receiving even the most basic worker rights. Read more.