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XAVIER UNIVERSITY "NOT WITH OUR MONEY" CAMPAIGN
"In running this company we just focus on shareholder value and the rest of it just works out fine."
-Doc Crantz, co-founder of CCA
To Fr. Graham, Xavier University's President
As you know, students and workers on campus have been campaigning since the
beginning of the school year to engage Sodexho Marriott (SMS), the food service
provider for this university, in a "card check/neutrality agreement." An ad hoc
Labor Rights Committee, thirty five faculty, and many other students and student
groups have professed their support of and demand for Sodexho Marriott to sign such
an agreement. It has been made clear through your office, in a letter to Sodexho
Marriott's Operations Vice President sent on February 9th that Xavier University
"respect[s] the right and ability of workers to organize and form unions should
that be their desire." Catholic social teaching goes on to state, "The purpose of
unions is...to make positive and creative contributions to the community
(On Human Work #20)." Yet Xavier's administration has made no mention of a
neutrality agreement nor has it referred to the Pope's statement that unions
are "an indispensable element of social life (On Human Work, John Paul II, 1981)."
As we have seen with SMS' continued anti-labor activities nationally and on
campus, further and more decisive action is still needed.
Sodexho Marriott claims that they too support the workers' right to organize.
Unfortunately, this is just one of many areas where the company's public statements
are not aligned with their policies. SMS has a long history of violating labor laws
and workers' rights. Most recently, the General Counsel of the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) recently reopened a year-old settlement with SMS. To avoid
civil prosecution, Sodexho-Marriott agreed last February to drop its illegal work rules.
However, according to the NLRB Regional Director in Baltimore, Sodexho-Marriott did not
live up to all of its obligations. On our campus, workers have been subjected to long
hours, captive audience closed door meetings where they've been shown anti-union videos,
and now, certain workers have been instructed not to talk to anyone if it does
not regard the work they're doing at that present moment. By ignoring your
urgings and continuing to violate workers' rights on our campus, SMS has shown
that it is unresponsive to the requests and disrespectful to the ideals of this
university.
Sodexho Marriott also makes the claim that it has no ties to the private prison
industry. Currently, Sodexho Marriott is 48% owned by Sodexho Alliance (SA).
By April, Sodexho Alliance will become the full owner of SMS. Sodexho Alliance
owns and operates two private prisons, and is the largest investor in the private
prison industry in America, being the primary investor and having a controlling
interest in the Corrections Corporation of America. Merrill Lynch reports that
over half (52%) of Sodexho Alliance's revenue comes from SMS. This means that
the money we spend on food on this campus goes to fund a corporation that profits
through incarceration, speculative building, and, like SMS, violating workers'
rights. In the past ten years, the for-profit prison industry has grown at
five times the rate of federal prisons. Recently, the US Catholic Bishops
came out against this trend, "We believe that the current trend of more prisons
does not truly reflect Christian values (Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and
Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice: A Statement
of the Catholic Bishops of the United States)." Why then would a Catholic
university do business with corporations whose practices "do not reflect Christian
values?"
"It is the calling of a Jesuit university to take conscious responsibility for being a
force for faith and justice (Kolvenbach, S.J. Superior General of the Society of Jesus)."
This University has been a force for building and investment. It is now time, as you
have said, to ensure the fostering of justice on this campus. Contracting with a
corporation that violates their workers' rights, funds for profit prisons, and
participates in other questionable practices, is incongruent with the Jesuit mission
of this university. We say "Not With Our Money." As a Jesuit and an administrator
that has professed his dedication to justice on campus and implementation of a new era
of Jesuit faith in action as exemplified by Fr. Kolvenbach's address, we are certain
that you will side with justice and, recognizing the incompatible nature of a
Jesuit University and a corporation that violates Jesuit ideals, will take
swift action to terminate the University's contract with SMS.
Our mission statement emphasizes the university's "Engagement with questions of peace
and justice." As students embodying that vision, we cannot ignore the injustices that
are funded with our money. An issue that fundamentally challenges our principles
requires the university community's immediate attention and action.
Students have been voicing their opposition to contracting with Sodexho in several
past issues of the Newswire. With Sodexho Marriott on campus, all members of Xavier's
community, especially students, are forced into funding a prison industry that
destroys community, family, and in many cases, life itself. Due to the fact that
meal plans are mandatory for many on campus and it is primarily students' dollars
that fund the cafeteria, we expect students to be a vital part of the process to
review Sodexho's services on our campus. As students have done in the past, we will
continue to bring attention to this issue until it is fully resolved. To quote your
February 9th letter to Sodexho Marriott's Operations VP, we "urge you to consider
how these ongoing issues can be handled constructively and positively. Further, we
ask you to share the University's perspective. we are happy to discuss this with you,"
and expect to have a meeting with you and other relevant members of XU's community in
the near future.
The Students of the Not With Our Money Campaign.
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