After working under an extended contract for months, a handful of student demonstrations and a number of negotiation push-backs, Sodexo workers on campus have reached a tentative agreement with the corporation.
According to a source who spoke under the condition of anonymity, a tentative agreement between Sodexo workers at Binghamton University and their employer was reached last night. Although unable to comment further on the agreement, the source said the deal would be presented to the membership of workers for a vote next week.
Sodexo officials could not be reached for comment last night, but spokeswoman Monica Zimmer told Pipe Dream late last month that she was unable to discuss details of the negotiations citing requests from a federal mediator.
The contract for full-time and part-time Sodexo employees at BU, excluding students, clerical workers and management staff, expired in August. Since then negotiators have extended the contract, which covers workers’ health care in full, until a new deal could be reached.
Workers, who also spoke under the condition of anonymity, said Sodexo representatives were calling for cuts to health care coverage — by 25 percent — in the new contract.
Although campus General Manager for Sodexo Paul Kerns declined comment on the terms of the negotiations because they’re ongoing, he did say that under the old contract workers were paid between $7.15 and $9.50 an hour.
Sodexo, which reaped more than $7 billion in its 2007 fiscal year, is BU’s food service provider.
Negotiations were initially scheduled to be completed in September, but were extended when an agreement couldn’t be reached. Bargaining was further delayed when the workers’ union representative, from UniteHERE (Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees) local 471, fell ill in November. They were rescheduled for Dec. 3 and 4.
Negotiators were set to include one member of the Sodexo Labor Relations Team, a union representative from local 471, a committee of at least seven workers and Kerns.
Members of the Sodexo Workers Justice Coalition, a group of advocates made up of both students and community members, rallied Wednesday outside the Hampton Inn on Vestal Road. The group of approximately 15 demonstrators held signs and chanted “shame on Sodexo” to drumbeat outside the building starting at 2 p.m., when the negotiations were scheduled to begin.
One protester said Sodexo’s practices were a “sin.”
“This is criminal what they’re doing to these people [the workers],” said George McAnanama, 61, of Binghamton. “We’re not talking about wants, we’re talking about needs … Sodexo should hang their head in shame.”
Around 2:30 p.m. Vestal Police Department arrived and asked the group to leave.
“The management is asking the demonstration to be moved off their property because it does hinder their business,” Officer K. King said. “There’s nothing wrong with what’s going on up until when business owners ask them to leave. It appears everybody is complying.”
Stephen Cormier, a student at BU and organizer of the Coalition, said the rally was to show Sodexo that advocates would continue to “fight vigorously until justice is served.”
In mid-October Cormier and others drafted a petition calling for a living wage and full health care coverage, among other stipulations. The document has gained almost 2,000 signatures, and Coalition members have handed the petition onto Sodexo officials at staggered increments.
Close to 100 students, faculty and community members came out in support of workers at a previous rally on Nov. 19, the day negotiations were scheduled for before the union rep fell ill. They rallied in front of the fountain at the Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower, and the movement traveled to various dining halls, as well as the Chenango Room.