SEIU, CGT to File Charges Against Sodexo With the OECD for Violating Workers Rights

PARIS, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SEIU and CGT, one of France's largest unions, filed an official complaint today with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on behalf of workers in Colombia and the United States charging Sodexo with repeatedly violating OECD guidelines with respect to labor standards and asking the organization to intervene and encourage immediate reinstatement of workers who lost their jobs for seeking to form a union.  

The Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) of France filed the complaint with the deputy director for International Financial Affairs and Development Ministere de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Emploi who is in charge of overseeing the application of OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The French Ministere de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Emploi, has the authority to investigate the charges in the CGT complaint, seek a written response from Sodexo, and mediate resolution or corrective action between the company and workers' representatives.

In the United States, the Service Employees International Union filed the complaint with the director of the Office of Investment Affairs at the State Department.

The report included multiple accounts of how Sodexo has violated the international norm by unjustly firing employees engaging in union organizing drives or collective bargaining in both Colombia and the United States.

Sodexo employs approximately 9,000 workers in Colombia, and up until earlier this year, not one of those Colombian workers had union representation. Sodexo pays workers in Colombia as little as $300 a month. Despite the low pay, Sodexo workers came to believe their managers were not paying the workers overtime due them by law. Their failure to pay overtime prompted workers at the National Chocolate factory to seek to form a union with SINALTRAINAL. Only 10 days after 11 workers affiliated with SINALTRAINAL, Sodexo cancelled the contracts—with no cause stated—with seven of the 11 workers who affiliated with the union.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating at least 10 unfair labor practice charges against Sodexo for interrogating, threatening and demanding workers sign anti-union petitions.

• Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., where the NLRB has found sufficient merit to take Sodexo to trial for multiple incidents of interrogating workers about their union activities.
• West Orange (N.J.) School District, where Sodexo was forced to settle charges or face being taken to trial by the government over allegations management had demanded workers sign an anti-union petition, interrogated workers about their interest and efforts to form a union, and advised workers that Sodexo management is watching them to see if they engage in union activity.
• University of Pittsburgh, where workers reported that Sodexo management has advised them that their efforts to form a union would be futile, threatened retaliation for attending union meetings, including taking away workplace privileges if the workers support SEIU, and interrogated a worker about his union activities.
• Loyola University in New Orleans, that Sodexo discharged union supporter Terry Shelley in retaliation for her support of the union, according to charges filed. As at other Sodexo locations across the country, Sodexo workers at Loyola also complain of management interrogating them about their support for the union and creating the impression of surveillance of union activities.

Additionally, the complaint charges that Sodexo in certain locations paid insufficient attention to worker safety, and its employees have paid the price through serious and sometimes near-fatal accidents. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors investigated several worker injuries, including some cases of severe burns from uncovered hot cooking oil and hot water, severe fractures from equipment failures, and exposure to toxic chemicals that can cause asthma attacks. In some cases, OSHA cited Sodexo for failing to provide service workers with even the basic protection of an eyewash station near sites where workers must handle industrial-strength acids that could cause blindness if splashed into their eyes. Despite the serious hazards linked to these chemicals, some Sodexo workplaces continue to force employees to use these chemicals without proper protections even today.

SOURCE Service Employees International Union