Why Should We Care About What's Happening with Workers in Other Countries?

Because our employers do! While the Big 3--Aramark, Sodexo, and Compass--employs hundreds of thousands of workers just like us worldwide, we are spread out across thousands and thousands of small worksites. Of course, many of us see this reality every day as SWU workers--as a janitor on the late shift, for example, or working in the cafeteria of an elementary school. But add up all those worksites--in every corner of the United States--and suddenly you have some of the largest employers in the nation and in the world.

SWU allows us to make important connections with our sisters and brothers everywhere.

How does this help us?

Well, in January 28-30, 2009, a delegation from UNITE HERE and SEIU that included a member of SWU visited Paris. Together with our French union allies, our delegation marched in Paris to demand justice for Sodexo workers and to support French workers as they mobilized for a general strike to call on Sarkozy to implement immediate measures to help workers and stimulate the French economy.

"I was able to bring hundreds of petitions from workers in the United States to Sodexo's Headquarters in France," said Leslie Williams, a Service Workers United member who was part of the delegation. "French Sodexo workers were very interested in hearing how we were treated back home, and they committed to support us and put pressure on Sodexo in France if we needed it."

The two main French unions, CGT and CFDT, gave an incredibly warm welcome to our delegation, and in particular to Leslie Williams, whose heartfelt comments about the situation of Sodexo workers in the U.S. were particularly appreciated and welcomed. Both unions expressed their ongoing commitment to North American Sodexo workers in their campaign for justice.

The main highlights of our delegation's activities included:

1) A national press conference with all trade unions representing workers at Sodexo in France (the CGT, CFDT, FO, CGC, and CFTC) on the eve of the general strike. We received good media coverage, including articles in one daily newspaper, the top French wire service, two French business weekly magazines, and national TV news.

2) A Sodexo workers' meeting that brought together 60 Sodexo shop stewards and leaders from the Paris region to meet with our delegation. Participants were particularly moved by Leslie Williams' testimony. The CGT and CFDT workers representatives who have been providing international solidarity to U.S. Sodexo workers for a number of years were particularly grateful for meeting a U.S. Sodexo worker for the first time. They recommended more worker-to-worker interactions as we move forward with this campaign. French Sodexo workers also expressed their concern with U.S.-style management practices being increasingly implemented within Sodexo in France.

3) Our participation in the general strike. We marched with the French Sodexo workers from the CGT, CFDT, and other unions in the general strike mobilization, which mobilized over 350,000 workers in Paris. We expressed our solidarity with the message sent by French workers to their government regarding the economic crisis and the need for a socially just recovery. We also underlined the need for a global citizen like Sodexo to act responsibly in the midst of this economic crisis.

4) Together with the CGT and CFDT, we delivered a petition to Sodexo's global headquarters in Paris. petition was signed by over 1000 unionized Sodexo workers from North America, demanding that Sodexo respect worker's right to unionize. We also presented over 4,000 additional signatures from workers at other multiservice companies. The French unionists made it very clear that they expected Sodexo to be a leader, not a laggard when it comes to workers' rights.