Rep. Payne, Danny Glover & Human Rights Groups Call on Sodexo to Uphold International Standards of Workplace Rights

Danny Glover puts Sodexo "on notice" to address reported violations at shareholders meeting next week in France

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, several leading human and civil rights organizations joined forces with members of Congress to urge Sodexo, the 21st largest corporation in the world, to adhere to international human and labor rights standards in their workplaces.

In a teleconference hosted by Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Danny Glover, chairman of the board of TransAfrica Forum, and its president, Nicole Lee, along with Antonio Ginatta of Human Rights Watch discussed findings in a new TransAfrica Forum report, "Voices for Change: Sodexo Workers From Five Countries Speak Out." Earlier in the day, Member of Congress Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) joined a briefing call to discuss the report findings with Congressional colleagues.

Download the report here:  http://transafrica.org/2011/01/spotlight/voices-for-change-sodexo-workers-from-five-countries-speak-out-3/

"The civil and human rights coalition is committed to improving working conditions for all," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and a recipient of the 2010 Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award. "Sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there is still a very long way to go, particularly when we find that government-contracted global corporations can still thwart the basic right of human dignity. Sodexo and its shareholders have a chance to make this right at their board meeting. We urge them to rise to the occasion."

"We are putting Sodexo on notice today that they must address these reported violations of human rights," said Danny Glover. "TransAfrica Forum and the other organizations represented here today are going to take these concerns directly to Sodexo at their annual shareholder meeting next week. We will not leave until we hear that Sodexo is serious about remedying the abuses workers have courageously shared with us."

TransAfrica Forum and Human Rights Watch will send a delegation to the Sodexo annual shareholders meeting in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France on January, 24, to demand a shift in organizational policies to ensure that Sodexo abides by international standards of human and labor rights.

SOURCE The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights