Recently in Higher Education Category

Source: By Ashley Meeks, Sun-News (NM), 03/17/2008

LAS CRUCES -- It bills itself as "Your University Bookstore -- Money Spent Here Stays Here!" But some members of the New Mexico State University community are concerned that may not be the story for long.

..... Coseth Krauel, an accounting technician with the bookstore, said she and others in the American Federation of County and Municipal Employees union are afraid of losing their jobs in a management change.

...... Outsourced services at NMSU: • Food services • Vending • Ground maintenance • Printing • Some construction and shuttle services

Source: By: MADELINE MCCURRY SCHMIDT, California Aggie, 1/28/08

A delegation of six Sodexho workers met at Mrak Hall on Friday to speak to Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef regarding the demands of Sodexho food service workers to become university employees. Vanderhoef was out of the office, so the Sodexho employees spoke with assistant executive vice chancellor Bob Loessberg-Zahl to ask for the higher wages and better benefits that they hoped would come with university employment.

........ Sodexho is the food service contractor that provides service to the dining commons, retail food service and catering service at UC Davis.

The six Sodexho workers were joined by two organizers from the union of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Max Alper, an organizer of the group, said the food-service employees are directly employed by the University of California on all other UC campuses except for UC Davis.

Source: By: PATRICK McCARTNEY, California Aggie 10/29/07

Sodexho has agreed to provide its campus food service employees higher wages and better benefits, as the food service company and UC Davis signed a memorandum of understanding Oct. 22 outlining a new agreement. The memorandum finalizes an agreement made between the university and Sodexho over the summer.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, Sodexho will improve employee medical benefits by increasing its employer-employee contribution ratio from 60-to-40 percent to 80-to-20 percent. Sodexho career employees will also receive a $100 monthly stipend to offset health care costs, though it may be spent however the employee desires.

Source: By Jerel Wohl, Academe Online, September/October 2007

Nearly ten years ago, the University of Pennsylvania announced that it would outsource its facilities and real-estate operations to Trammell Crow Higher Education Services, Inc. The agreement included management of school facilities--155 buildings over 269 acres on the West Philadelphia campus, excluding the four hospitals and other units of the health system, an off-campus arboretum, and the veterinary school's large animal hospital, which is located outside of Philadelphia.

...... The contract, however, was reduced in scope in March 2000, when operations and maintenance components reverted back to the University of Pennsylvania while Trammell Crow continued to manage the capital project and real-estate components. Then, in 2002, the agreement with Trammell Crow was completely terminated and the university took back the responsibility for management of its capital projects, as well as the property management of real-estate holdings. Trammell Crow no longer had a presence on the Penn campus.

Source: By Patrick Brantlinger, Academe Online, September/October 2007

Seeking to raise money for new academic buildings and programs, Indiana University's board of trustees is exploring outsourcing its "auxiliary-service" units. These units manage printing and food services, the university's bookstores, campus motor pools, and other functions.

To prevent job loss and wage cuts among hundreds of long-term university employees, the pro-labor organization Jobs with Justice--of which I am a member --has joined forces with local and state officials and IU's unions: the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents service and maintenance staff, and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents clerical and technical employees.

...... Daniels also signed a $1.16-billion deal with IBM to run Medicaid, food stamps, and other poverty-relief programs. In fact, he would like to privatize the entire state welfare system, which he calls "the worst" in the nation. ( Just how he knows that it is the worst is unclear, but he obviously dislikes welfare.)

Source: By John Petroski, Special to The Recorder (CT), September 26, 2007

A mysterious object was found in a blueberry muffin purchased in Memorial Hall last week; initial rumors suggested that the object was a beetle.

Although students confessed faith in Memorial Hall's food, Bob Hermann, the Director of Dining Services, confirmed what many could not believe.

....... The blueberry muffin was a Sysco product purchased by Sodexho campus services.

"There was a foreign matter in the muffin," said Hermann.

Source: By Sharon Stello, Davis Enterprise (CA), September 20, 2007

UC Davis food workers urged UC regents Wednesday to support their effort to become university employees, then disrupted the meeting's start by chanting and marching out of the auditorium.

UCD is the last of the University of California's 10 campuses and five medical centers still contracting with outside companies to provide food service. At UCD, about 500 food workers are employed by Sodexho.

Source: Stephanie Jevtic, Chicago Flame (IL), 9/24/07 Section: News

A boycott is ensuing at Northeastern Illinois University against Sodexho after the $6.7 billion corporation decided to increase food prices for NEIU this school year. Sodexho is also the new food provider here at UIC campus.

Source: By Sharon Stello, Davis Enterprise (CA), Aug 30, 2007 - 14:18:06 CDT.

Sodexho will increase wages and benefits for its food service workers at UC Davis under a new agreement with the campus, adding about $2 million in annual costs for the remaining three years of UCD's contract with the company. UCD will evaluate all options for providing food service in anticipation of that contract's end.

...... A UCD spokeswoman noted that Sodexho workers have the right to unionize without becoming university employees. UCD's announcement came as a surprise to William Schlitz, spokesman for AFSCME Local 3299, the union that would represent the food workers if employed by UCD.

Source: Sacramento Business Journal, 2:25 PM PDT Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The University of California Davis has reached an agreement with food service contractor Sodexho Inc. in the labor debate between the university and the labor contractor.

For the three years remaining in the contract, Sodexho will increase the employer contribution to employees' medical benefits plan, and increase wages for employees. The increased medical benefit contribution will begin Jan. 1. Sodexho will determine the amount before open enrollment for the health plan begins in October.

The agreement also calls for Sodexho-employed hourly workers to be paid more comparably to university workers.