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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Should WSU kick out Sodexo? YES


Friends,

I began researching Sodexo's (Sodexho) human rights record after hearing about student protests against Sodexo while I was attending the Campus Progress National Conference in DC. I was further motivated to research Sodexo after I noticed a negative correlation between food prices and food quality at the WSU Sodexo locations-that is, as prices go up, the food quality declines. I discovered that Sodexo has been implicated for a vast array of unseemly practices, including: funding of private prisons, war-profiteering vis a vis military contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a shotty food safety record, poor labor union practices, low worker compensation, and yes relatively poor food quality. I will explain some of these points in more detail to convince the reader of my views

War-Profiteering

-According to the Guilfordian, an independent student-run newspaper at Guilford College, Sodexo has a $23 billion contract with the U.S. Department of Defense for a 10 year period-benefiting its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan

-The Center for Public Integrity notes that Sodexho was paid $324,120 from the U.S. State Department in 2002 for work at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. http://projects.publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro&ddlC=55

-In 2001 $850 million contract was awarded to Sodexo by the U.S. Marine Corps to serve food at Marine cafeterias (War Resisters League) http://www.wri-irg.org/node/563

Private Prisons

- The Private Prison business accounts for some 1% of Sodexho's profits

-According to the New York Times, Sodexo is a minority stakeholder in the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a large private prisons conglomerate
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/08/education/student-life-a-food-fight-over-private-prisons.html


-CCA has been accused of operating violence-prone facilities in Ohio (in one year 2 people were killed and 20 stabbed during physical confrontations).

-In 2001 Sodexho sold its shares in CCA and instead invested in its projects in the United
Kingdom and Australia, including a mental asylum in the UK. The asylum was beset by residential escapes and other blunders
-Private Prisons are disliked because they are said to fuel crime and violence and that if a prison is run for profit it will not be up to par with a public prison because the operator will want to obtain as much money as possible. Thus, the prisoners will be treated inhumanely.


Food Safety Issues


-Sodexho has been implicated in the illnesses of hundreds of Chicago students after they ate burritos from Sodexho that Sodexho purchased from a retailer who frequently violated food safety rules


-A student found a thumb in her turkey sandwich at a Massachusetts Sodexho location-I bet that wasn't on the menu... The worst part is that Sodexho didn't scrap the turkey slicer after the incident-that can't be sanitary!


-4 students in Wisconsin became ill with e coli poisoning after eating at a local Sodexho


-In Maryland 24 people became ill with salmonella after eating food prepared at a Sodexho operated kitchen


-Violations like these are likely more prevalent than the cases reported, because Sodexho only inspects its operations at an average of " once every 12.5 years".




-In Texas numerous complaints arose regarding Sodexho's use of expired milk and other products. The freshness and quality of Sodexho's food has been stringently questioned. http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=834#usa


Racial Discrimination


-Sodexho is currently facing a one billion dollar lawsuit from 10 former African American Managers at Sodexho who claim racial discrimination in the promotions process


Environmental Degradation


-Sodexho has worked with the government of Nigeria to clear mangrove swamps in the Niger Delta to tap the vast oil reserves there. The Nigerian government is infamous for gunning down civillians who want a stake in the countrie's oil wealth-see Chevron's role in Nigeria. Is it wrong for Nigerians to want some of the couuntry's oil wealth to imporve their lives and not the lives of rich Multinational Corporations?

-Sodexho is also helping to extract oil from Sakhalin, an island off the east coast of Russia-to the detriment of the environment.




Inadequate Worker Compensation


-Sodexho is said to underpay its employees when compared to similar jobs with different companies-"maintaining a large and unskilled network" of workers (Corporate Watch).

-According to Simplyhired.com, a job comparison web-site, Sodexho food service employees in utah can expect to make 14,000 a year compared to 22,000 a year in a similar job.





There is a lot more to blog about. I will update this blog as time goes on, but I encourage you to look through the links I provided and the many more available via google to decide for yourself if Sodexho should enjoy a continued contract with WSU.


Personally, I think that Sodexho's contract shouldn't be renewed. The food is expensive and often nasty. There are few vegetarian options and those that are available are typically disgusting. Sodexho advances their bottom line by using expired or close to expired food while dishing out cheap white breads and fatty foods. Sodexho should be rejected because their human-rights record and poor food doesn't add to an increasingly legitimate Weber State. The 23,000 + students at WSU deserve better than Sodexho.


Thanks for reading,


Cameron