For the first time, U of T food service workers are demanding their employer, multinational corporation Sodexho, allow them to unionize. They would be among the last employees at this university to finally enjoy the rights and security that unions exist to protect.
Sodexho’s general manager at U of T, Hadi Chahin, allows that joining a union is the right of the firm’s workers, and that legally, he cannot stand in their way. One can only wonder, if he does really acknowledge this, why his workers have felt compelled to ask their employer to let them continue the unionization process without interference. Why they’ve requested “an atmosphere free from pressure, intimidation, and harassment,” as their official petition reads.
Whatever the reason (perhaps this is the way their management is used to treating minorities and women, not just those that want to unionize), Sodexho’s employees feel bullied and threatened.
It seems to be just an extension of the way this company values its work staff, since some have been working for Sodexho U ofT for more than a decade without seeing a substantial wage raise. This is because Sodexho subscribes to the nonsensical policy of restricting promotions (and thus meaningful raises) to workers with university degrees.
An iota of thought reveals that such a policy makes very little sense. How is an entry-level worker supposed to go to school? Working forty-plus hours a week in food services does not leave a lot of time on the side to earn your B.A.
Even those workers with degrees can be out of luck, since if they went to school in a developing nation, chances are their education is not recognized here.
Most degrees must have been obtained in a Western country in order to qualify someone to work in their chosen field (i.e. medicine, computer science) in Canada. And your qualifications must presumably be recognized by this country in order for your fast-food restaurant job to let you be a manager.
This is silly, as few Canadian university grads are pursuing their actuarial science diplomas in order to become a food-court supervisor.
Chahin’s claims that the wages at U of T are comparable with those earned by unionized workers at Queens don’t really fly. Last time we checked, the cost of living in Toronto is substantially higher than that of Kingston.
Neither does his reasoning that making a living in food-service work isn’t ever (read: should never be) easy. Call us crazed, foaming-at-the-mouth socialists, but working full-time at anything should pay enough to support a person and one dependent well enough that her head is above water.
There are plenty of other big, scary, earth-swallowing corporations that have really reasonable employment policies. Many of you will know this, if you’ve ever worked part-time at one of thise places. McDonald’s actually offers its workers paths to achieve goals past burger-flipping; as marketing strategist Bruce Kasanoff explains, “[F]or employees who embrace the firm’s motivational messages, [McDonald’s] provides a clearly defined path up through management of individual units, into district management, and then on to either ownership or corporate management.” We’re lovin’ it.
The only criteria for this corporate ladder-climbing is that you start out as cashier and show some sort of managerial acumen. If you’re an immigrant from, say, Guyana, it simply makes more sense to finance your way towards your degree in genetic engineering with a middle-level managerial job at Wendy’s, instead of shelling out for your education and then using the Wendy’s job to pay off your loan’s sizeable interest. In other words, one should get degrees for fields where a degree actually serves a purpose.
The employers, unfortunately, are not the only ones who can take advantage of Sodexho’s workers. Beware the union. Their strategies may prove invasive, and workers must be wary. Being contacted at home by union members is a marketing strategy, not a gesture of goodwill. It’s bound only to incense and confuse newer workers.
Sodexho’s workforce wants a union at this institution, and they shall have it, God bless ’em. The reputation of U of T depends on it, among the worker-equity set in any case. More importantly, the livelihood and rights of the employees depend on it.
