Group alleges anti-union video shown to Sodexho employees
ASU administrators and their legal team are looking into allegations of fair labor violations within Sodexho, the main food contractor on campus.
On Tuesday, an ASU student representative, a Sodexho employee and three organizers of Unite-Here, an international labor union, met with Sally Ramage, associate vice president of student affairs and Mike Matthies, ASU facilities and contract manager, to discuss the alleged violations, which include maltreatment in the workplace.
"We have started asking them for information and questioning them to know their labor standards," Matthies said. "Our responsibility as a University is to work with companies that treat their employees fairly."
Both Matthies and Ramage said they needed to have all of the facts before making a decision to renew ASU's contract with Sodexho, which expires June 30, 2007.
"Our culture makes decisions based on gathering as much information as possible and not making decisions based on emotion or knee-jerk reactions," Matthies said.
Sodexho manages food service operations on ASU Main.
ASU and Sodexho bring in roughly $13 million to $14 million a year in total sales at ASU Main, Matthies said.
The delegation of students, employees and organizers informed ASU's administration of Sodexho's alleged violations of fair labor practices law following a supposed anti-union video shown to Sodexho employees in the Memorial Union.
ASU President Michael Crow said he shares the delegation's interests and concerns.
"We're not going to do business with companies who mistreat their employees," Crow said.
He said ASU administration is looking into the matter, though a decision will not be made right away.
"We will react to it," Crow said. "We just have to make sure we understand it."
A Sodexho employee, who works in the MU and preferred not give his name, said he watched the video, which informed workers of the consequences of joining the union.
"They called everybody into a room and made them watch the video," he said. "The video said the union will come to your house and tell you a lot of things about getting better benefits and better wages. It also talked about mandatory union meetings to attend, and it talked about strikes and how strikes are very hard."
He said the video, which was shown both in English and Spanish, said the union will often fight for raises for some people, but the majority of workers who are new will not get the benefits of the union.
Ben Hartley, Sodexho general manager for Campus Dining, said no video was shown about a union on ASU's campus.
"One of the informational videos we showed addressed labor work issues," he said.
Hartley and Sodexho spokeswoman Bonnie Gordon said Sodexho shows many informational videos, none of which are mandatory, with the exception of safety and instructional videos.
"It's our responsibility to educate our employees," Gordon said. "We just want them to know what their rights are.
"What we truly believe is that employees are given the right to decide whether or not they want to be part of the union. We're really pro-employee."
Ramon Gutierrez-Rojas, a dishwasher for Sodexho in the MU, said he gave his name because he is not scared of the company.
"A lot of people are afraid that they are going to get fired because the company's very powerful," he said.
Gutierrez-Rojas said Sodexho does not pay for his lunch break. Sodexho policy allows workers a half-hour unpaid lunch break.
Kinesiology junior Stacy Flewelling, a Sodexho employee, said she gets a free meal at Einstein Bros. Bagels.
"That's probably one of the main reasons why I work here," she said.
On Sept. 22, 10 ASU student activists, Unite-Here organizers and employees of Sodexho's Commercial Linen Exchange in Phoenix requested a tour of the laundry facility. The facility committed violations of fair labor practices law, according to Unite-Here and a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board.
Sodexho officials said they would not allow the delegation into the facility because no appointment had been made.
The following day, participants visited Juan Gonzalez, vice president of Student Affairs, to bring several matters to his attention.
In October 2003, the National Labor Relations Board and Unite-Here took Sodexho's Commercial Linen Exchange to court on a count of 17 violations.
Of 27 supposed violations Unite-Here said Sodexho committed, the NLRB found the company guilty of 17, including threatening employees with reprisals if they continued to engage in union activities.
Sodexho has appealed all counts and remains in litigation with the NLRB.
Cledwyn Jones, a political science senior and Associated Students of ASU Barrett Honors College senator, said ASU expects Sodexho to comply with all labor laws.
"Sodexho hasn't just sat on the sidelines and enjoyed the partnership; they've actually invested a lot of money in the infrastructure of the University," Jones said. "In some respects it very much is this very well- developed relationship with Sodexho that the University itself has benefited from."
Hartley said Sodexho has been the service provider at ASU for 50 years, and they "would like to be here for another 50 years."
Brenda Aguirre a Chicano/Chicana studies senior and a student organizer for Unite-Here, said the next step would be determined by whether Sodexho releases a copy of the video to ASU administrators and the delegation.
Aguirre said it's important for ASU students to become involved with the negotiations of the contract.
"As an ASU student, we have a role of privilege; we can speak out against those horrific labor practices, unlike the workers, because we don't fear losing our job," she said. "We have a say because we are customers of Sodexho as ASU students."
Construction management sophomore Alan Mordoh said it bothers him that someone would commit potentially hurtful actions to someone else.
"I don't think it's right, but it won't stop me from eating food [at the MU]," he said.
Matt Sluder, an ASU alumnus who attended the meeting with Gonzalez, said he feels ASU is failing its responsibility to ensure that the less fortunate workers are treated fairly by Sodexho.
"The impression I got [at the meeting] was that unless students speak out and demand that ASU does not contract with the Sodexho corporation that has oppressive business practices, the University is not going to exert the power of its purse strings to petition Sodexho to change."
Reach the reporter at shaina.levee@asu.edu.
