The firing of roughly a dozen black Food Services employees in May has caught the attention of the Economic Justice Coalition.

“Obviously it’s a civil rights issue because they replaced these people with whites,” said Ray MacNair, co-chair of the coalition, an Athens-based organization that fights for workers’ rights.

MacNair said in an interview the former employees were wrongly terminated because of race.

J. Michael Floyd, the executive director of Food Services, declined to comment about reason behind the firings.

“At the end of spring semester, we typically always lay off our temporary employees, then rehire them in the fall,” he said.

According to several former Food Service employees and MacNair, the terminated workers were not welcome to return to their jobs in the fall.

“He knew good and well that when he signed the paper and took my badge from me that I wasn’t coming back,” said Hattie Cooper, affectionately known to many students as “Ma Hattie.”

Cooper said she made only a quarter more an hour than student employees after working in University dining halls for 10 years, and she said many of her complaints on the job involved Chef Bryan Varin.

“He treated me very bad, like a dog or something,” Cooper said. “He was so rude and mean to me, for what reason I don’t know.”

Other former employees said they had similar experiences with Varin. He declined to comment.

“I don’t like working with managers that are rude to you and scream at you,” said Shanquita Franklin, who had worked for Food Services since 2001.

Franklin switched from full-time to part-time after giving birth, and she was fired in May with Cooper.

“I didn’t understand why he fired me, it makes no sense,” said Franklin, who believes Food Services is hiring less experienced people to pay less. “I know how to work everything in there, it seems like they don’t choose experience.”

This year Food Services hired more student workers than ever before, Floyd said.

“By hiring students, you are really able to tell your story better. Because we work so closely with an academic organization, we understand you are a student.”

As far as Varin’s job performance is concerned, “I typically get compliments on his management style and really can’t get into personal matters,” Floyd said.

But not everyone who works for Food Services is experiencing an unfriendly environment.

“I typically find myself recommending employment in Food Services to others because of their appreciation of student workers and the flexibility and understanding of our schedules,” said Erin Ling, a sophomore from Buchanan.

MacNair said the exact number of those affected is difficult to pinpoint because even current employees are seeing a reduction of hours. The coalition is documenting the situation, mobilizing lawyers and working with campus organizations such as the Living Wage Campaign.

“It is difficult to express the desperation that people have to live with while showing smiles at work,” MacNair said. “We are ashamed of the University of Georgia. If people were aware of what is going on, they would feel that way, too.”