Fifty-odd union workers rallied outside Simcoe Hall on Friday reacting to news that Sodexho-the French company that provides food on U of T’s St. George campus-is being replaced by Philadelphia-based Aramark, and driven by worries that U of T food service workers may lose their union as a result.
Meanwhile, a delegation from Unite Here, the union representing Sodexho’s U of T employees, met with university officials inside.
“We explained how vulnerable everybody feels, and that because they’re the client, they’re the one controlling this, that they need to step in and make sure that Aramark recognizes the collective agreement that these workers fought for,” said Alex Daag, the executive director of Unite Here.
“It was a big struggle to get the agreement,” added Valerie Gaynor, who is a cook at the New College cafeteria. The union agreement was approved in February.
Maria Del Mar-Morales, who mans the pizza station at the New College cafeteria, said the union agreement has boosted her wage by fifty cents, to $10.50 an hour. While she plans to stay on after the change-over, Del Mar-Morales worried that Aramark might treat returning employees who had worked for Sodexho for many years as if they had just walked through the door.
Daag, Del Mar-Morales, and Gaynor met with Catherine Riggall and Angela Hildyard, U of T’s vice-presidents of business affairs and human resources, respectively. In an interview, Hildyard noted that Aramark is not compelled to keep the collective agreement struck between Unite Here and Sodexho’s employees.
Unlike the case where one company buys another and is forced to honour existing collective agreements, she said, “in what’s happened here, where it’s a commercial change, Ontario law does not require that the collective agreement continue.”
Hildyard added, however, that “if the University of Toronto had been in this situation, the University of Toronto would almost certainly have recognized the current agreement.”
Sodexho has been the food provider on U of T’s St. George campus for 16 years, serving out two contracts and one contract extension. The current contract with Sodexho run out July 31, and Aramark’s contract may run between seven and ten years, by Riggall’s reckoning.
A town hall meeting between Sodexho employees and Aramark to discuss the union issue is scheduled for this week.
Aramark provides various “managed services,” including a campus service, according to its website, which includes control of food service outlets such as Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Mr. Sub, Pizza Pizza, and Pita Pit. The company does business in 19 countries, and has 240,000 employees.
Aramark serves more than 400 colleges, universities, and prep schools across North America. Its list of clients includes New York University, Florida State University, and U of T’s Scarborough Campus, among a number of others.
In the past, Aramark has faced criticism from students at the University of Alberta, who complained to the university administration over the cost and nutritional value of the food provided by the company, according to U of A’s student newspaper, The Gateway.
At Trent University, in Peterborough, The Arthur reported that Aramark requires that all campus events involving food be catered by the company; and student groups are limited to maximum two pot luck events each year. Last December, students held an “illegal potluck dinner” to rally against the contracted monopoly that restricts any form of for-profit food service as well as the ability for students to share food through campus events.
