Dear Dining Services Selection Committee,
We are writing on behalf of the Living Wage Campaign and other concerned
students to voice our opposition to Sodexo’s practices as an employer and the possible consideration of its selection as the University’s dining services provider.
In response to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Sodexo has changed its staffing regulations, presumably in order to get out of providing benefits. The ACA mandates that by 2016 businesses with more than 50 employees provide healthcare for their full-time workers. Sodexo, a company with over 125,000 employees, has decided to redefine what it means to be a full-time employee. In the past, Sodexo classified workers who worked an average of 30 hours per week over a six-week period as full-time. Since January, Sodexo has defined full-time employment as working an average of 30 hours per week over a 52-week period. Because many college workers often take breaks for vacations and summers, many Sodexo employees will not meet the law’s full-time standard over the course of a year.
This change reclassified some of Sodexo’s formerly full-time employees as part-time workers. In addition to not providing benefits through the ACA, Sodexo cut other benefits: sick days, holidays and vacations. Though they say they will provide a raise for all employees who lose these benefits under their new policy, this promise is not legally binding. Moreover, at other campuses where employees have faced such cuts, Sodexo has refused to say what this raise amounts to in real dollars. This follows a long history of broken promises, laws and regulations on Sodexo’s part.
By viewing health care as expendable, Sodexo demonstrates that it also views the health of its potential workers as expendable. If the University accepts Sodexo’s bid, employees who fall victim to an illness or accident could also suffer financial ruin. We feel that Sodexo is flaunting loopholes in the Affordable Care Act in order to attain a higher profit margin. As students of this University, we cannot in good conscience allow this to happen to members of our beloved community.
In a February 17th, 2012 letter to the University community, University President Teresa Sullivan reiterated her commitment to the lowest wage employees at the University. The University should continue to uphold its policy of providing health care benefits to contracted and direct employees alike.
For these reasons, we urge the University to reject Sodexo’s bid to provide dining services at the University. In addition, we continue to urge the University to pay everyone who works on Grounds, including those employed through contractors, a living wage of $13 per hour and employer-funded benefits.
Sincerely,
Stephen Amorino, on behalf of Workers and Students United for a Living Wage
Stephen Amorino is a third-year student in the College.
Read More
ARRAS: U.Va. must revise the Sexual Assault Prevention Training module
By Aoife Arras | YesterdayIn addition to its failures in interactivity, the module lacks details specific to the University and discusses key concepts in universal terms.
EDITORIAL: Pedestrian safety is an institutional imperative
By Editorial Board | 3 days agoAmid a national crisis of pedestrian safety, Charlottesville and the University are also struggling to properly maintain pedestrian safety.
YOUNIS: The danger of dehumanizing language
By Ayat Younis | 5 days agoThe administration’s failure to condemn blatant discrimination exacerbates an impossible situation, fostering an atmosphere that misinterprets pro-Palestinian sentiments as support of terrorism.
