master’s of the university? Is a master’s degree the only road to a job? • page 08
universityofwindsor’s studentnewspaper • sept.21.2011 • vol#84 • issue#04 • uwindsorlance.ca
Running on empty
The Pub, over $1 million in debt, faces outsourced managment
‘‘
rahul radhakrishnan NEWS EDITOR
[The Pub] has to be run differently than the process they’ve been taking for the last 11 years. It just doesn’t work.
natasha marar EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ________________________________
T
he University of Windsor Students’ Alliance plans to outsourcing management of the financially indebted Thirsty Scholar Pub, leaving current employees concerned about job security. The UWSA is initiating a request for proposals process this week that would see a third-party company manage the student-owned restaurant and bar as soon as November. The company would receive incentive-based commissions for managing staff and services at the pub.
-Nic Gesuale
(former pub manager)
UWSA’s president, André Capaldi said the UWSA were in talks with AMP Entertainment Inc.— the organizers of the Coming Home Music Festival concert on Sept. 6— before the summer, but opted to hire an interim manager while they proceed with the RFP process. Capaldi and UWSA general manager Dale Coffin, met with the pub’s 45 staff on Sept. 12 to inform them of the management changes.
“I was told about the possibility of the pub closing down around Oct. 31when I was hired, but I wasn’t really in a position to tell the staff that they might lose their jobs in a few months,” said Korney. Capaldi indicated that a change in management doesn’t necessarily mean job losses. “I don’t think our jobs are safe because the point of one of those consulting companies is to come in and take a look of everything that is causing losses to your company and ... start afresh,” said Jennifer Pertras, services manager at the pub.
news
UWSA to update policies to ensure transparency p.04
• photo m.n. malik
“The staff was angry because a lot of them left jobs elsewhere to come back and work here,” said Thirsty Scholar manager Abraham Korney. “A lot of them rely on the income that they earn here to pay off school, and its hard for them to find jobs, especially in Windsor.”
The Thirsty Scholar Pub, legally UNIWIN Corp., has accumulated a total deficit of $1,020,403 over the last eleven years. It lost $94,217 in the past year alone, according to a financial statement made on Apr. 30.
Korney, a pub employee for five years, was appointed general manager at the end of August. The former manager, Nic Gesuale— who has over 25 years in experience in the service industry— was fired by the UNIWIN board in June.
“There’s a lot of turnover at the UWSA, we have a new executive team every year. Outsourcing will allow us the opportunity to have some continuity in terms of programming, operations and staffing,” said Capaldi.
The pub routinely receives loans from the UWSA’s board of directors to cover shortfalls each year. It has yet to repay any of its loans.
The UNIWIN board, which operates outside UWSA, is chaired by Capaldi and comprised of the other three UWSA executives, Kimberly Orr, Stephanie Saad and Ronnie Haidar.
continued on page 5
sports
lancer’s hockey lace up for 2011/12 p.12
arts
much ado about something p.09
opinion who serves who? p.02