Mar
17
“Truth Tour” will highlight labor abuse by outsourcing giant Sodexo, and educate youth on dangers of anti-union attacks in Wisconsin and beyond
March 16, 2011 – Madison, WI
It’s time for the truth. Corporate-funded politicians, like Governors Scott Walker (R-WI) and John Kasich (R-OH), are lying when they tell us that stripping away workers’ rights can fix state budgets. Billionaire corporations in our communities, like the global outsourcing giant Sodexo, are lying when they claim to be fair and responsible, but pay sub-poverty wages and intimidate workers who speak up. And university officials are lying when they say there’s nothing they can do about it.
Students at two dozen universities have organized a “Truth Tour.” During public events from coast-to-coast, workers from U.S. universities and from overseas will join the students to speak out against serious threats to workers’ rights that have come into the national media spotlight, and are epitomized by their employer Sodexo. The Huffington Post drew the connection ( http://huff.to/ggYX86 ) between the plight of Sodexo workers in Ohio and high-profile legislation to strip collective bargaining rights of that state’s public sector workers.
From Wisconsin to the Dominican Republic
The tour begins March 18 in Madison, Wisconsin, the epicenter of the remarkable growing grassroots outrage over politically-motivated attacks on labor unions, public education, reproductive rights and immigrant communities. Polling shows people increasingly reject the claims by some state politicians that these extreme measures are necessary to fix budget deficits. As Rachel Maddow and many others have insisted repeatedly, “It’s not about the budget.” It’s about weakening progressive voting blocks and pushing through dangerous political agendas.
Madison is also home to the oldest chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops who just last year made the University of Wisconsin the first-ever to drop Nike over worker rights violations. The tour, which starts in Madison for the annual national conference of the powerful student organization MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán), aims to expose Paris-based Sodexo for its worldwide record for violating worker rights.
Carina Mieses, one of the workers joining the tour, worked for Sodexo at the Barrick Gold Mine in Pueblo Viejo, Dominican Republic. Sodexo, the world’s 21st largest employer, fired Mieses just two days after managers learned she had been talking with her coworkers about protesting dismal sub-poverty wages and a lack of dignity on the job. The incident was featured in a human rights investigation that made Washington Post headlines ( http://wapo.st/exV2t7 ). Despite all the tell-tale signs of a Freedom Of Association violation, Sodexo has publicly asserted over and over that Mieses was fired for “poor work performance,” and won’t even come to the table to talk with Sitrasodexo, the union formed by Mieses and coworkers. As with so many other issues, Sodexo won’t acknowledge there is a problem, let alone make a serious effort to resolve worker rights violations.
Students tell Sodexo: “You’re Next!”
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the 14-year-old student organization on over 200 college campuses, is announcing the tour after 18 months of intense campaigning to transform Sodexo’s labor practices by urging universities to sever contracts with the company. Sodexo, the massive French corporation, serves more food to U.S. college students than any other company, but pays sub-poverty wages and flouts workers’ freedom of association worldwide, including on many US campuses. Students launched their “Kick Out Sodexo” campaign in solidarity with workers in the Dominican Republic, Colombia, the United States and any place where Sodexo workers are fighting for justice.
This same strategy has won major USAS victories in recent years, where over 100 universities cut ties with Nike or Russell Athletic. In 2009 and 2010, cross-country tours with workers sewing Nike and Russell products sparked a wave of student action. Both apparel companies, after losing millions in revenue because of student campaigns, finally agreed to ground-breaking settlements affecting thousands of Honduran workers sewing college gear.
Students look forward to a positive outcome with Sodexo, which serves food to more college students than any other company. Sodexo is no stranger to student boycott campaigns. In 1999, student activists launched a “Dump Sodexho” [sic] campaign to protest the corporation’s involvement in controversial for-profit prisons. By 2001, at least six universities dropped Sodexo in response to student protests, and Sodexo finally agreed to divest entirely from the US segment of its for-profit prisons business. With momentum from recent USAS victories and with excitement about the labor movement at its highest since the 1990s, the students think their chances look good for winning serious changes in Sodexo’s labor practices, together with workers fighting for justice on the ground.
It’s time for the truth. It’s time to kick out Sodexo!
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