Dining services workers will soon begin their first contract negotiations with Sodexo since the company took over from Aramark as the University’s main food provider in the 2013 to 2014 academic year. Workers hope to negotiate for higher pay and better healthcare and retirement plans but are concerned about beginning negotiations with a completely different company than before.

Sodexo has been criticized for its labor practices in the past. A 2011 report by the human rights organization TransAfrica found that American Sodexo workers earn so little that they qualified for federal anti-poverty programs and were often denied overtime. The report also cited a Human Rights Watch report that claimed Sodexo “launched aggressive campaigns against some of its U.S. employees’ rights to form unions and bargain collectively.” Sodexo has denied these allegations. A May 22, 2014 Boston Globe column accused Sodexo of using the Affordable Care Act as an excuse to cut employee benefits, as well as altering calculations for full and part-time work to similarly cut benefits. Sodexo claimed that it had to change its calculations due to the Affordable Care Act.

Brandeis workers have been acting under a contract first negotiated with Aramark for the last five years. It expires on June 30. Sodexo workers are waiting for the company to propose dates for negotiations with UNITE HERE Local 26, the union representing Brandeis dining workers. If the contract expires before a new contract can be agreed upon, workers’ wages and healthcare premiums will freeze at their current levels, but they will gain the rights to picket and strike. If a new contract is then reached after the old one expires, workers will be retroactively reimbursed for the raises they should have gotten. Wage raises are dated every July and January.

In an interview with the Justice, the three shop stewards for dining workers at Brandeis — Milagros Santana, Mike Cutler and Lucia Hsiung, who spoke on behalf of the workers to UNITE HERE Local 26 — said that workers hope to at least maintain their current healthcare and retirement plans but expressed concerns about benefits like sick leave and vacations. “We’re concerned that if they want to start slashing, they may start touching that element of our benefits,” Santana said.

“We need at least another five years of feeling secure at your job. Knowing that you can pay your bills and be able to take care of your family members,” she said. “We’re with these kids four years,” Cutler added. “You get to know a lot of the kids, they want to see you earn a fair wage and a fair living. We’ve got a lot of students now backing us. It’s good to have support.” Cutler said that he believes some workers may not stay if the current contract disappears and that long-time workers may not have stayed as long as they did without the contract. Cutler has worked for the University for nine years as a cook, while Santana has been a cashier for 10 and Hsiung has been a cook for 15.

The contract would not impact student workers, but it would affect other part-time and full-time Sodexo workers. Andrew Nguyen ’15, UNITE HERE’s representative in charge of Brandeis, said, “I’ve seen that the workers are willing to fight and stand up for themselves, and they not only deserve respect, but they’re willing to fight for that.” Nguyen was also a member of the Brandeis Labor Coalition while an undergraduate. “We’re pleased with him,” Cutler said. “He’s here more than we’ve ever seen any other union person here, that’s for sure. And we fed him for four years!”