Jun
9
Copied from the original message received June 6.
Mr. Pierre Bellon
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Sodexo
255 Quai de la Bataille de Stalingrad
92130 Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France
Dear Chairman Bellon,
We the undersigned are heeding the call of campaigners at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) who recently forced their administration to break their relationship with Sodexo, a food services contractor at many of our universities and students’ unions in the United Kingdom. We are very concerned about Sodexo’s pattern of noncompliance with basic UN and International Labour Organization standards which are verified in reports from Human Rights Watch, the TransAfrica Forum, a Commission of Inquiry on Colombia, and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS).
We commend students in the US who have been urging their universities to terminate contracts with Sodexo, especially the seventy-one students who have been arrested recently during a wave of sit-ins at the university presidents’ officers.
Unlike our counterparts in the U.S., UK Students’ Union often own, operate and generate revenue from on-campus commercial services. Many of our unions may have unknowingly contracted with Sodexo at the tune of tens of millions of pounds for food services. In lieu of glaring human rights violations we can refuse bidding on future contract and contract renewals. In the last few days, Students Unions around the UK, from Birkbeck College to the University of the Arts London, have passed policy to boycott Sodexo from all Union-related commercial services, contracting, or subcontracting and will campaign to end their university’s contracts with Sodexo. This trend will continue until human rights are respected.
We stand together with SOAS SU, USAS and the workers of Sodexo in helping to stop universities from doing business with Sodexo until and unless the company takes the following basic steps to prove it is serious about compliance with international labor standards:
1. Re-hire Carina Mieses and the other Sodexo workers fired in the Dominican Republic after leading efforts to demand unpaid wages and forming the union SitrasodexoDO.
2. Obey the order of the Colombian Labor Ministry and begin bargaining in good faith with Sodexo workers and their union Sinaltrainal.
3. Publicly agree to recognize, without delay, workers’ unions through whichever legal method workers choose to pursue, which in the United States must include the majority sign-up or “card check” method.
4. Publicly commit to ending sub-poverty wages for Sodexo workers at U.S. universities by raising wages to a level such that a full-time worker would earn no less than the Federal Poverty Threshold for a family of four.
We will communicate the preceding statement to Sodexo officials in the U.K., France and U.S., as well as students’ unions, university officials and sister students’ unions across the European Union.
We hope to hear from you soon (PC),
Charlotte Gerada, General Secretary, LSE Students’ Union & Chair, Environment and Ethics – NUS Services Limited (NUSSL)
James Haywood, President-elect, Goldsmiths University Students Union
Aakash Naik, President, Portsmouth University Students’ Union
Clare Solomon, President, University of London Union (ULU)
Cameron Tait, President, Sussex University Students’ Union
Jasper Kain, Co-President, School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS)
Daniel Cooper, President-elect, Royal Halloway University Students’ Union
Louis Hartnoll, President, University of the Arts London Students’ Union
Sean Rillo Raczka, Chair, Birkbeck Students’ Union & Vice-President-elect – University of London Union
Maev McDaid, President-elect, Liverpool Guild of Students President-elect
Claire Locke, President-elect, London Metropolitan University Students’ Union
Alexander Rose, President-elect, University of the Arts London Students’ Union
Ashok Kumar, Education Officer, LSE Students’ Union
Robyn Minogue, Education Officer, University of the Arts Students’ Union
Joe Oliver, Education Officer, Sheffield Students’ Union
Lucy Killoran, Vice President, London College of Communication
Peter Johnson, Culture and Diversity Officer, University of the Arts London
Anant Naik, Vice-President Communications & Engagement, Roehampton Students’ Union
Luca Beckerson, Vice-President, London College of Fashion
Tom Coxon, Vice President, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design
Ben Westhead, Education Officer – elect, University of the Arts Students’ Union
Ruth Brewer, Vice President-elect, Liverpool Guild of Students
Hafsa Shariff, Vice President-elect, Camberwell College of Arts
Richard Wilsher, Activities and Volunteering Officer, University of Arts London
Billie Pearson, Vice-President-elect, London College of Fashion
Fairooz Anija, Culture and Diversity Officer – elect, University of the Arts Students’ Union
Hero Austin, Community and Welfare Officer, LSE Students’ Union
Biz Bliss, Operations Officer, Sussex University Students’ Union
Amena Amer, Education Officer-elect, London School of Economics Students’ Union
Mohammed Kellow, International Students’ Officer-elect, Goldsmiths Students’ Union
Daniel Kroop, Postgraduate Officer, LSE Students’ Union
Lukas Slothuus, Community & Welfare Officer-elect, LSE Students’ Union
