Settlement ends Sodexo investigation

Sodexo agreed to post flyers listing its employees’ rights to organize and participate in… Sodexo agreed to post flyers listing its employees’ rights to organize and participate in union activities as part of an agreement with local union workers that ended a federal investigation into Sodexo’s practices on campus.

The agreement says that the multi-national food corporation “does not admit to a violation of the National Labor Relations Act,” according to documents obtained by The Pitt News Wednesday. The National Labor Relations Board was investigating a local union’s claims that Sodexo intimidated and threatened its nonunionized workers at Pitt.

About 150 of Sodexo’s employees have no union representation, and about 200 belong to the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which brought forth the charges in March.

Kim Siegert, acting regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, said that it is not unusual for the “charged party” — Sodexo, in this case — to ask for that type of clause in a settlement agreement.

Most of the terms of the settlement include parts of section seven of the National Labor Relations Act. The section includes terms that affirm workers’ rights to join, aid or associate with a union. The other portions come from the court interpretations of workers’ rights since Congress passed the law, Siegert said.

Settlements like the one between Sodexo and the SEIU, Siegert said, often come about when the parties intend to avoid long and costly court proceedings.

SEIU spokesman Matt Painter said that the settlement ended up as “more or less what would happen out of a longer trial process.”

Sodexo spokeswoman Monica Zimmer said that she would not comment beyond a statement issued by company spokesman Alfred King.

After the parties finalized the settlement on Aug. 31, King said that the company believed it had acted lawfully.

“Sodexo has a zero-tolerance policy concerning discrimination, harassment or retaliation of any kind, including actions against any employee for engaging in union organizing activities or otherwise supporting a union,”  he said in an e-mail.

King said it became easier to reach a settlement after Sodexo signed a three-year contract with the SEIU agreeing to give workers a $1.40 raise over three years and contribute more to their health care premiums.

Although the settlement did not punish Sodexo, Painter said that he viewed it as a victory.