The Tufts Daily - Monday, April 22, 2019

Page 1

‘Gender Bending Fashion’ recaps fashion’s history of breaking gender norms see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 3

SOFTBALL

Jumbos score 3 wins over Mules to secure NESCAC East pennant

Men’s lacrosse cements position atop the NESCAC with win on Senior Day see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 55

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY Monday, April 22, 2019

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

tuftsdaily.com

Tower Café student workers claim underpayment, Dining Services director pledges investigation by Alexander Thompson

Klos greeted the students and listened as they described their pay issues. She thanked the students for informing her and said she would look into the matter. “I appreciate information being brought to us, and we will investigate promptly,” Klos told the Daily at the time. The problems stem from raises Tufts student dining workers were supposed to receive at the beginning of this semester, according to emails from Tufts Dining managers that were reviewed by the Daily. These raises paralleled the rise of the Massachusetts minimum wage to $12 in January of this year. General workers received a raise from $11 an hour to $12, supervisors from $12.50 to $13 and managers from $13.50 to $14. Student workers at Tower Café began to notice irregularities in their payment in February when Austin Clementi, a sophomore, was promoted from general worker to supervisor but did not receive the corresponding raise to $13, according to emails he provided to the Daily. Gillian Davis, a senior and student manager at Tower Café, told the Daily she caught the error in early February and alerted Rigor da Eva, who then told Davis he filed the papers to correct the mistake. However, Clementi’s pay did not change. In early March, Rigor da Eva referred the issue

News Editor

Disclaimer: Austin Clementi is a news editor for the Tufts Daily. He was not involved in the writing or editing of this article. Five Tower Café student workers have not received the compensation that they were promised this semester. Several of them confronted their manager, as well as Director of Dining and Business Services Patti Klos about the issue last Thursday afternoon. Klos told the students that Tufts Dining would take action immediately. Two students were shorted $24, and two more were shorted $30. A fifth claims she has not been paid almost $300. These claims are supported by a review of emails and pay slips by the Daily. The impacted student workers from Tower Café led a group of more than a dozen student activists and Tufts Dining workers to bring their complaints to Arthur “Turo” Rigor da Eva, their manager, a fulltime employee of Tufts Dining, shortly after 3 p.m on Thursday. During a short conversation in the Commons Marketplace, Rigor da Eva told the students to see Klos. After a brief walk, the students and workers filed into the Tufts Dining offices on Curtis Street.

EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY

see WAGES, page 2

The Tower Café in Tisch Library is pictured on Sept. 1, 2018.

Amazon announces expansion into Medford by Anton Shenk Staff Writer

Retail giant Amazon will continue its investment in the Boston area by opening a new office space in Medford. The company announced plans to move into a 50,000-square-foot facility near Wellington Station on the Orange Line, which is roughly two miles east of Tufts campus, this spring. An Amazon spokesperson told the Daily that this office space is part of the company’s increased investment in the greater Boston area. “Amazon has created more than 1,800 tech jobs in Boston, from speech scientists helping make Alexa smarter every day to robotics engineers building the latest technology for our customer fulfillment network,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement emailed to the Daily. “We are excited to be bringing more jobs to the Boston area and across Massachusetts.”

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According to the spokesperson, the facility will hold 200 employees, including product managers, engineers and business analysts, all of whom will support Amazon’s Alexa. Medford Mayor Stephanie Burke says she is excited about the contribution Amazon can bring to the local community. “Amazon will be bringing 200 additional jobs to our community. This allows recent graduates, vocational students, and those seeking a career close to home additional opportunities,” Burke told the Daily in a statement. However, all 200 staffers in the new office will transfer from the space the company rents in Back Bay, the transition will create no new jobs when the Medford office opens this spring. Still, Burke says Amazon’s presence in the Medford community is expected to add economic benefits. With 200 employees, Amazon will be one of Medford’s largest private employers.

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“[Amazon] will also contribute to the tax base in our community, specifically personal property taxes,” Burke said. “Additionally, our businesses and restaurants in the area will prosper because of the additional people that will be utilizing them.” Tufts Career Center Executive Director Gregory Victory believes Amazon’s new office will offer positives for the Tufts community as well. “It is certainly valuable to have companies like Amazon, in Tufts backyard, and the greater Boston area certainly provides that access,” Victory told the Daily in an email. “Amazon continues to be a major employer of Tufts graduates and we look forward to establishing a relationship with this specific team.” Victory also noted that the new space is in its early stages, so assessing what full-time or internship opportunities might exist for students is difficult at this stage.

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However, Victory is optimistic about the benefit of Amazon’s close proximity to students and the university. Victory explained that the new office could offer nontraditional means of taking advantage of the opportunities Amazon offers, including fostering research connections. In the last 10 years, Boston has become an increasingly attractive region for tech companies. Amazon has made clear its interest in growing more within the Boston area and capitalizing on the region’s skilled workforce. Both Boston and Somerville were contenders for Amazon’s HQ2 second headquarters contest, though they ultimately lost to northern Virginia. Amazon hasn’t been the only large corporation attracted to expanding into communities just outside of the Boston area. Sportswear manufacturing company Puma will also be opening its North American headquarters less than a mile away from Amazon’s new space, according to a Boston Globe article.

NEWS............................................1 ARTS & LIVING.......................3 FUN & GAMES.........................5

OPINION.....................................6 SPORTS............................ BACK


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