Grinnell College has responded to a partnered campaign from student mailroom staff and the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW), announced March 19, to demand changes in mailroom operations due to alleged improper COVID-19 protocol adherence. The school did not concede to the demands for equal pay across mailroom positions and vaccine priority.

According to Lexi Hankenson `24, cashier at the mailroom, problems in pandemic protocol were evident from day one. “Supervisors came in with acrylic masks,” said Hankenson. She understood that the clear shields helped solve accessibility issues by allowing a view of the mouth, but still felt alarmed by the health hazard it posed.

Franny Atmore `24, Alyssa Radakovich `22, Maren Ronald `24 and other mailroom staff have noted that management has not made the work environment conducive to CDC-recommended guidelines, saying that the supervisors make negative comments on double masking, have walked out of their offices without protection whatsoever and have not respected social distancing bubbles of six feet, actions that went directly against the rules in place at the College.

Kim Hegg, mailroom manager, declined to be interviewed for this article.

“What really tipped me over the edge was the FedEx or DHL workers coming in and not wearing anything at all. And then I was expected to hand them packages, which means like I’m supposed to get within a foot of them, and I was not about to do that,” Atmore said.

Ronald, a mailroom cashier, also witnessed these violations but felt too new of an employee to speak up. “I’m not in charge of anything, so how am I supposed to make sure that I’m safe when I go to work?”

Getting in touch with the UGDSW, Atmore started the ball rolling; she corresponded with union representatives for advice, reminded coworkers of union meetings and aided in forming the published list of grievances.

UGSDW President Ryland Rich ’23 said the union’s goal was simply to amplify the mailroom worker’s concerns, and she referred all questions to the workers themselves.

The campaign, announced to the public on March 12, marked the UGSDW’s first partnership and large activist movement outside of their sanctioned domain since the Board of Trustees’ refusal to permit opt-in representation for select on-campus student workers.

I’m not in charge of anything, so how am I supposed to make sure that I’m safe when I go to work? – Maren Ronald ’24

“I think after a time, you realize we’re underpaid as it is, so coming to work and feeling unsafe every single day just kind of catches up with you after a while,” said Radakovich, mailroom worker since her second year at Grinnell. Due to the disparity between Grinnell College’s mask policy and that of the state of Iowa, the outside companies delivering to campus do not have to observe the regulations currently in place for College members regarding mask usage and face shield requirements.

After the union published the workers’ demands, the mailroom has implemented social distancing between workstations and established a designated eating space outside the mailroom

In the press release by UGSDW on March 19, Grinnell College “promised to revise COVID-19 protocols in the mailroom.” The statement also said, “These policies, many of which should already have been in place, represent a necessary but insufficient response.”

Two demands – that cashiers and non-cashiers be paid the same (currently cashiers make $9 per hour and non-cashiers make $8.50), and that mailroom student staff receive essential worker priority for COVID-19 vaccinations – were declined outright by the College, according to the March 19 press release from the UGSDW.

Coming to work and feeling unsafe every single day just kind of catches up with you after a while. – Alyssa Radakovich `22

“Our initial response from [Dean of Students] Ben Newhouse was a little bit concerning because it basically just said, ‘Yeah, we’ll meet your demands because these are already the College’s rules anyway,’” said Radakovich. “And we were like, ‘Yes, but nobody was holding the people accountable to begin with, so there needs to be something put in place.’”

This lack of top-down checking up on daily operations has been an issue in the past, according to Radakovich.

“I wouldn’t say the negligence of our supervisors is new; it looks different, and it is more rampant now than it used to be,” said Radakovich, citing lack of respect as a common thread. Atmore described instances of supervisors snapping fingers at workers to get attention while Radakovich pointed to supervisors pulling down masks to cough in the open air.

“It’s just that the pandemic highlights a lot. Especially ignorance and negligence,” said Radakovich.

“That’s just an overall message for even non-COVID times – you should always be checking in to make sure that your employees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, because otherwise there are so many things that they can get away with. This is just one that people aren’t afraid to talk about because science backs it up,” said Atmore.

Anne Harris, president of Grinnell College, declined to comment.

The resounding desire from the current mailroom student staff is for their demands to be addressed in their entirety prior to the second spring term.

“I hope for at least S2, they’re much safer for the people coming in. I wish we had done it sooner because it would’ve been a lot better, because now we’re all going home to our families, and we don’t want to get them sick,” said Ronald.

You should always be checking in to make sure that your employees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, because otherwise there are so many things that they can get away with. – Franny Atmore ’24

“But I also would have preferred if it had been the whole time because then I wouldn’t have had this anxiety every time I get my test because if there’s any reason that I’m going to test positive, it’s probably going to be from them,” said Atmore.

While Grinnell has prioritized Dining Hall staff for COVID-19 vaccines, mailroom employees have yet to be updated on when they will be offered the vaccination.

“I understand the necessity for us as essential workers getting the vaccine, but I also understand practicality-wise, in Iowa, I don’t know what that’s going to look like,” said Hankenson. “Ideally, we’d all be vaccinated now since we’re essential workers. But then people are still wearing masks and physically distancing because we have to be conscientious of health in general.”

UGSDW said that mailroom workers will remain committed to monitoring and enforcing safety protocols in order to protect themselves and the Grinnell College community at large.