Sodexo Workers Demand 'Hands Off Our Health Care'

Central Connecticut State University food service workers held an on-campus protest on Tuesday, Sept. 26, continuing their fight for a fair contract on healthcare.

With allies across Connecticut, Sodexo employees, who are members of UNITE HERE Local 217, are still battling in negotiations against Quality Services of Life since a reduction of healthcare benefits and sudden increases in insurance premiums took place. The rally focused on the need for paid time off, the standard of wages and affordable healthcare; all issues employees have been trying to settle since April of 2017.

“My son has a medical condition that has him in and out of doctors’ offices and frequently in surgery. Why should I have to choose between a pay cut I can’t afford, or going into medical debt to care for my son?” CCSU Sodexo worker Samantha Cedeno said.

For Cedeno, this means that the company would be cutting $3.38 per hour out of her paycheck in order to keep her health insurance.

Many employees similar to Cedeno stand by her side in terms of defying contract proposals from the company that they believe is being unreasonable.

Gil Martinez, a CCSU service worker of 21 years who attended the rally, is confused by Sodexo’s decision of decreasing their pay.

“We fought for decades to make these decent jobs that give us a modest standard of living. Now Sodexo wants to take that away, and why? They’re not losing money and they are the second biggest food service company in the world,” Martinez said.

UNITED HERE Local 217, which is what all CCSU Sodexo workers are a member of,  represents food service employees not only in affiliation with CCSU, but on seven other college campuses as well.

In the past year at all seven colleges, food service workers have been able to obtain settled contracts with the union that is preserving high-quality employer-paid health insurance, paid time off and a provided cost of living wage increase for their employees.

In a similar CCSU protest in March of 2017, the desire for fair contracts in comparison to surrounding campuses was just as much of a concern as it is now.

Diana St. Mark, an organizer for Local 217 and Sodexo employee at the University of Hartford, said at the time, “We want food service workers to have a good contract with Sodexo, like other schools in the state.”

Although several months have passed since this last protest, Sodexo employees, specifically those employed at Central, have yet to see significant changes.

“Last year we set a standard for college food service workers in the state of Connecticut,” Ken Blair, president of Local 217 and a cook at Eastern Connecticut State University, said. “That standard is what allows us to live a dignified life. It is time for Sodexo to live up to that standard and settle a contract that the workers at CCSU deserve.”

Although workers have yet to be given their demands, they did receive a statement from Sodexo claiming to continue their negotiation in “good faith with union leaders and a federal mediator and are hopeful that all open matters will be resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner.”

With hopes that this rally created much emphasis on the problems at hand, CCSU Sodexo workers intend on receiving settled contracts within the year.

Click here to view the published article.