In light of the ongoing negotiations between Aramark and it’s workers’ union, the Voice will do a series of On-the-Records with Hoya Court and Leo’s employees. This week the Voice sat down with nineteen-year old Francisco Lopez, who works at Elevation Burger.
Lopez commutes nearly two hours from Maryland to work the night shift at Elevation Burger. He began working at twelve years old in construction before beginning a job at Popeye’s when he was sixteen. He started at Hoya Court at eighteen, nearly two years ago. He lives with his single mother and two brothers. This interview has been edited and condensed.
What do you do at Elevation Burger?
I’m the lead up here. I pretty much do everything that needs to be done, whether that’s frying, grinding the meat, cook, do milkshakes, register, sweep, mop, take the trash out. I used to do all that before I was the lead. I used to do all that stuff just getting paid as a regular worker.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is my co-workers. They’re all fun people. Now and then the supervisors will get on their backs and all, but I just tell them just to brush it off because at the end of the day everybody needs this job.
What is the worst part of your job?
The amount of work they tell you to do. One person has to do like nine different jobs. That’s too much for one person to take. … Then you get tired. And then if you call out, they don’t care. They’ll still be on your back about why you called out.
Do you want Hoya Court to have fair process to organize?
In a way, yeah, because, you know, people have more freedom of what to say and speak up. Because some people are scared to speak up right now because they afraid they’re going to get fired. And if we do have fair process [to organize] they won’t be so scared to speak up, because then they’ll have that back-up, that support behind them, and they can’t just fire them easily for no reason. We’ve had people get fired over little stupid stuff and we don’t understand why they got let go. There are workers and everything that get let go just because they wanted to speak their minds.
Do you think the movement for a fair process to organize is more about that sort of protection rather than pay?
Most people up here need the money. People need the extra boost in their lives. And that little cents or whatever they try to give us isn’t enough to cut it. When they gave us our raise some people only saw thirteen cents. After a year of working you’re going to pay them thirteen more cents? That’s pretty much a slap to the face. Some people took it like that and they tried to speak up. Those people aren’t with us anymore. They got fired.
Have spoken to students about your work?
Only during that big rally when they came up here that one time. That was the one time I kind of talked to some students. They showed how much support they had towards us.
We all were grateful that they came here. There were so many students we felt … this was something that could actually happen for us.
If you got a pay increase at work, do you know what you would spend it on?
Family. I want to take care of my family over everything. Why I’m working? It’s not for myself. My mom just got let go a couple days ago. I’m only nineteen. I should be getting ready for college, but I’m trying to make sure my family’s in a better place. That’s why I’m hoping it comes in so that I can get a little extra boost and help us out. Help us out with the struggles we got going on.
Is there anything that you would want to say to the students of Georgetown?
All I have to say is that I respect how they show us support. A lot of kids don’t know us, but they still show respect towards what we do. We do what we can to make sure that they get their side, that they get a good burger or sandwich or a good salad around here. We make sure everything’s fresh every day. We make sure y’all have a good lunch.
