Op-Ed: I Support Labor Rights Except When They Inconvenience Me

It’s 2018. People shouldn’t have to work two full time jobs just to put food on the table for their family. We should have fair wages for everyone and we should improve healthcare and social safety nets so no one has to go hungry or be without proper medical treatment. I support all those things, but not when it means I can’t get my De Neve Late Night chicken tenders. I mean, I literally ate a pop tart with gravy on it for breakfast, what the fuck?

I don’t believe the school should pay the workers such low wages, but I think they should try and resolve it without forcing me to eat frozen food for three days. Now, maybe this could have been avoided by the university paying our workers a decent wage and giving them health benefits, or at least meeting them halfway, but it could also have been avoided by the workers considering how them leaving hurts me, a second year student with no cooking skills or access to a kitchen. Now if I want decent food I have to walk a half mile to Westwood. In the pleasant spring weather!

Yes, yes, cafeteria workers shouldn’t have to feed their children McDonalds while we eat fresh meals just because they can’t afford anything else this week, but also, I shouldn’t have to suffer or make sacrifices for the fair labor movement. I voted for Bernie, I talked shit about Trump on Facebook, and this is my reward? Thank god I’m not a poor student and I actually have the option to eat elsewhere for three days instead of having to scarf down this garbage.

Thanks for not prioritizing my comfort over literally everything else, UCLA kitchen staff.