Campus food-service provider Sodexho has rejected its employees’ first attempt to form a union. In a letter released last Wednesday, the company officially declined to recognize UNITE-HERE, an existing Canadian labor union, as the collective bargaining agent for its workers. On November 5th, a small group of Sodexdo staff members and union officials delivered a petition to Sodexho’s office, signed by 70% of its employees, asking for union acknowledgment.
Initially the petition was to have been presented to U of T Sodexho’s general manager, Hadi Chahin, but according to organizers, Chahin canceled a scheduled meeting with them, and the company’s office assistant accepted the petition without comment when it was submitted. Organizers and union supporters were hopeful the high number of signees would persuade the company to recognize the union voluntarily.
But last Wednesday, Sodexho Canada President Garry Knox, responded to the petition in a letter to UNITE-HERE organizer Andrea Calver, saying, “[We] are not currently prepared to offer voluntary recognition of…UNITE-HERE as [the employees’] bargaining agent.”
Although 123 of the 176 Sodexho workers employed on campus signed the petition, the company insisted broad support for union representation did not exist. “[W]e have no basis for believing that a majority of our employees wish to unionize” the letter said. The company’s response did not specifically refer to the petition or its submission.
Among Sodexho’s employees, many of whom were reluctant to talk openly about the matter, the reaction was mostly disappointment. Several employees interviewed by The Varsity were not aware management had rejected the petition, but upon learning of the decision, said they were saddened. “That’s too bad,” said one worker, who signed the petition but did not wish to be named. “I guess it’s time to move on.”
Another worker, who said every employee at her Sodexho location signed the petition, was shocked the company would allege that most staff don’t support unionization.
“Why would they say that?” she wondered. “Most people signed [the petition], and it doesn’t make sense what they are saying.” All of the workers interviewed said they were not members of the organizing committee heading up unionization efforts.
According to Calver, the petition’s rejection is not the end of the road for the workers. She said the next step in securing union representation is for the university community to put pressure on U of T’s administration to intervene.
“If Sodexho won’t listen to what the majority of its workers clearly want,” she said, “then it’s up to the university to step in and tell the company they should treat their employees fairly.”
Angela Hildyard, U of T’s Vice President Human Resources and Equity, was initially supportive when union organizing began this past summer. In a letter to Sodexho’s management in May, she called U of T “fundamentally a union-friendly environment,” and advised Sodexho her office had the expectation management would deal with its employees in good faith. Hildyard did not respond to a request for comment on the petition’s rejection by press time.
Calver said she thinks it’s not the time for workers to follow the traditional unionization strategy of presenting signed union cards to the provincial government, and vote by secret ballot to certify representation. “Why go through with all that rigmarole?” she asked. “Why go through [the] official process of a vote, when it’s clearly evident that the majority of workers want a union?”
Chahin would not comment on any aspect of the unionization process, and referred calls from The Varsity to Sodexho’s head office in Burlington, which were not returned by press time.
