Abstract

This article is the result of the research project: "Between the public university and the private company: the lived space of subcontracted cleaning workers at the University of Costa Rica", that is taking place at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Costa Rica (UCR). It is based on 10 interviews conducted during the year 2021 with personnel from the company Servicios de Limpieza a su Medida (SELIME) at UCR, with members of the Private Sector Workers Union (SITRASEP) who represent them, and with personnel from the Sección de Servicios Contratados of the Oficina de Servicios Generales, located within the Vicerrectoría de Administración at UCR, and on the analysis of official documents related to the management of these services. The latest represents a fundamental component of neoliberal transformation among public universities where precarious labor is justified on the bases of spending cuts, efficiency and control. This article allows us to know the implications of this kind of organization on the lives of outsourced workers at the labor and psychosocial levels, as well as the possibilities to resist through infrapolitical practices and collective organization confronting the private business and the public institution that, based on actual legislation, disavows labor rights and the needs of workers, and implements hostile practices against union organization.

Key words: outsourcing; precarious labor; public universities; labor rights; union organization