Sodexo workers go on strike amid contract negotiations

With contract talks stalled, union workers are striking on Pitt’s campus, with little… With contract talks stalled, union workers are striking on Pitt’s campus, with little expectation of returning to work tomorrow.

The Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which represents about 200 workers at Pitt, went on strike this morning after arriving at an impasse in contract negotiations. Neither side has indicated they are ready to compromise, and negotiations resume at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The corporation that employs the workers, Sodexo, runs dining services on Pitt’s campus.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said the strike was an issue between the union and Sodexo, and that the University would not comment.

Fedele said Sodexo’s management brought in workers from other locations to fill the positions left by the union workers who are striking. Dining services will operate normally today, with the exception of Taco Bell, which normally runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and is now closed. Fedele said that Taco Bell was closed because Sodexo did not have enough staffers to keep it open. Market Central and The Perch, where the striking employees work, will remain open.

There were some unfamiliar faces in Market Central this afternoon, and many of the workers did not have the usual black uniforms. What they wore varied from bright green T-shirts to blue Pitt polos. Otherwise, the cafeteria did not seem much different from any other day. All of the stations inside Market had staffers and served food. Most of the tables had students sitting at them.

Shortly after 5 a.m. today, about 50 unionized workers stood on the sidewalk next to Towers on Forbes Avenue, chanting and shouting against Sodexo’s practices at Pitt. Shortly afterward the protesters brought out a bass drum and a bullhorn. A few carried signs that said, “Honk for union workers.”

Panther Central sent an e-mail to students this morning, saying that while the workers were on strike, the University had received assurances from Sodexo that dining services would remain open.

Henry Gaston, a 59-year-old Pittsburgh resident and chef in Market Central, said that he had been a part of the negotiations as a member of the union’s bargaining committee. He was in the negotiations when Sodexo and the union reached an impasse.

“Some of their contract offers were insulting,” he said of Sodexo.

John Listisen, the lead negotiator representing the union in the negotiations, said that the union would not accept the current offers from Sodexo and would need some sort of compromise from the corporation.

The last offer from Sodexo totaled about a 10 percent raise over 3 years, or about 90 cents an hour over 3 years, Listesen said. The union and Sodexo also disagreed over the health care plan for employees, Listesen said.

Sodexo’s Director of Public Relations, Monica Zimmer, said in an e-mail that the union forced the strike, even though Sodexo had proposed a wage increase for its workers. The e-mail also said that SEIU members had told Sodexo employees that they needed to strike or they might lose their jobs.

“That is not a true statement,” Gaston said. He also said that four union members had decided they would not participate in the strike.

Listesen mentioned a number of complaints of unfair labor practices that had been filed with the National Labor Relations Board, which regulates employers. The e-mail from Zimmer did not mention the labor complaints, and she declined to comment beyond the statement.

This was the first time that workers had protested here at Pitt, and Listesen said that they had decided it was time to fight Sodexo.

“We’re here ’til we win,” Listisen said.

All of the other workers on strike echoed the sentiment, and Gaston said they were “in it for the long haul.”

The union came prepared to do so. A U-Haul truck parked at a meter was filled with refreshments. Two tables and a number of coolers on the sidewalk had donuts, coffee, chips and water for the protesters.

Listisen said that he was not sure when the protest would stop tonight, but the workers would be back outside Towers by 8 a.m. tomorrow before heading to the renewed negotiations at 9 a.m. at the Holiday Inn in Oakland.

Jordan Romanus, a Pitt senior, said that Students in Solidarity with Sodexo Workers will meet tonight at 9 p.m. in the Union to decide how to support the strike. Romanus said the group intends to have students attend any further protests in support of the strike.

Gabe Morgan, area director for the local SEIU chapter, said that the union plans to fully support the union workers at Pitt. If the strike goes until Wednesday, he said that the union might bring some of its 5,000 members in the Pittsburgh area to protest Sodexo.

Morgan said they were not trying to disrupt the campus during finals week, but that Sodexo had given them no choice.

“It’s unfortunate that Sodexo has forced us into this,” he said.

Freshman Sam Algeo, who lives on the second floor of one of the Litchfield Towers, said the protest woke him up this morning.

“The drum is really what does it,” Algeo said. “It’s just obnoxious.”

Beside the noise of the protest, Algeo didn’t think that there was much disturbance on campus.

“Oh yeah,” he said, “Taco Bell is not open.”