Sodexo workers at Loyola are facing serious problems on the job, but not a lot of people know what we are really going through.
Sodexo has hired many new workers for this school year. Many of the new employees are making more money than workers who have been here for many years. I think there should be an equal opportunity for all the workers, and that workers who have been at Loyola for a long time deserve to receive raises.
At the beginning of the school year, workers were scheduled for a certain number of hours each week, but now their hours are getting cut back. When work is slow, workers are sent home. Without a regular schedule it is really difficult to budget for your bills, your kids and your life.
During training at the beginning of the year, we are told that we should not come into work if we have the sniffles or if we are sick. The handbook says we should stay home to keep from spreading germs. But sometimes when workers call in sick, they are told to come to work anyway.
Sometimes we do not have enough people working on each shift. Late at night, we have to stock the C-Store, but since we are shorthanded, we have to stay later than the hours we are scheduled for. This week I had to stay at work until after 1 a.m., and I was supposed to get off at midnight. In the Orleans Room, sometimes there are not enough people to keep up with washing the dishes.
Workers can’t afford to pay for healthcare over the summer because we are all laid off each summer. Some workers are elderly and are still working to make ends meet, but they do not get full-time hours and can’t afford Sodexo’s health insurance plan. This means workers are going without their medicine, then they have to choose between paying the light bill and paying for the medicine they need.
When you work at a university, it seems like the working conditions should be better than other jobs. My kids see me working at a university, and that motivates them to finish school and go to college. It makes me proud to know that my kids want to go to college. I don’t want my kids to grow up and end up with a job like mine that does not pay enough or provide affordable healthcare.
We have asked Sodexo to respect our rights, but their response has been to try to intimidate us and stop us from talking about organizing for change. We need to show Sodexo that they can’t scare us.
Things need to change, and now is the time for change. It’s time for Sodexo workers to come together as one so we can make this change happen.
Delisa Taylor is a Sodexo worker at the C-Store. She can be reached at
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