SEIU: Sodexo Hit with New OECD Charges over Blood Testing, Anti-Union Activity in Four Countries

RABAT, Morocco, July 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A global coalition of unions meeting in Rabat to raise standards for Sodexo workers, announced expanded charges to be filed with the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the United States against Sodexo, the world's 21st largest employer.

The updated and expanded charges accuse Sodexo's Colombian subsidiary of violating OECD policy by requiring applicants to undergo blood tests as a condition of employment without giving the employees information about what tests will be performed and without providing them with the results. Furthermore, the charges accuse Sodexo of improperly interfering with union representation processes in Morocco, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

The expanded charges come nearly a year after an initial complaint was filed against Sodexo for violating the international norm by unjustly firing employees engaging in union organizing drives or collective bargaining in both Colombia and the United States. That initial complaint has been accepted by the OECD National Contact Points in France and the United States. The expanded charges are being filed with the U.S. National Contact Point by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and with the French National Contact Point in France.

Additionally, in the United States the updated and expanded allegations charge Sodexo with skirting statutory and contractual mandates to pass on cost savings to its own clients in the United States and refusing to provide shareholders with vital information regarding its risk management practices of programs connected to anti-hunger efforts by the government in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

In the months since CGT and SEIU filed the initial complaint, Sodexo has embarked on a bitter campaign to prevent its workers from winning union representation and bargain collectively with Sodexo for higher wages, sick days and safer working conditions. Its anti-union tactics have led to rebukes from respected human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and TransAfrica Forum.

A global coalition of unions has engaged in a campaign to raise standards for Sodexo workers and negotiate an agreement through the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) to provide Sodexo workers with a process to form a union in the easiest legal way possible in their home countries. So far, Sodexo has bitterly fought attempts by its workers in Morocco, the United States, Colombia and Brazil to secure the right to bargain collectively with the company. The agreement would apply to all unions affiliated with the IUF.

The expanded charges were announced in Rabat, Morocco, where the global coalition of workers and union leaders from CGT (France), SEIU (United States), SinalTrainal (Colombia), ODT (Morocco), FENTIAHBETA (Dominican Republic) and CUT (Brazil) are meeting to coordinate strategy in response to increased anti-union activity from the company.

SOURCE Service Employees International Union