Last week, more than 70 school custodial workers in New Orleans signed a petition protesting their working conditions at Sodexo.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has the story here:

"Joseph Jones, lead organizer for the local Service Employees International Union, said Sodexo has fired about 80 public school custodians in recent months. Dozens of employees have filed grievances with the company in the past year, he added, complaining about everything from unfair firings to threats of job loss."

"Ray Smith, a custodian who worked at Lusher Charter School through Sodexo, said company officials fired him three weeks ago after he left work to check on his sick mother when Hurricane Ida threatened the region. Smith said he had worked for Sodexo for four years, and notified his employer that he was leaving work early."

"Ronald Johnson, another custodian, said he was reprimanded and ultimately suspended for a week without pay for such infractions as arriving to work 11 minutes late."

According to the Times-Picayune, the head of public relations at Sodexo, Monica Zimmer, "said that the work-leave policy for Sodexo employees follows workplace norms in that workers should let their boss know if they have an emergency." However, Zimmer was "unaware of details of several specific allegations," and "wasn't immediately sure how many New Orleans-based Sodexo employees had been fired in recent months."

If you'd like to learn about the specific details, you don't have to look too far. Last week, we posted about an incident where a New Orleans manager threatened to fire Sodexo worker Tiyana Landry if she did not leave her son at an ER to come back to work - even though Tiyana did what Zimmer suggests and was given clearance by her supervisor to take care of the emergency.

You can read more here: http://cleanupsodexo.org/2009/12/what-would-you-do.php.