Dozens of students and faculty at Rollins College, a private liberal arts college near Orlando, on Friday rallied in support of the college’s dining workers, who are seeking a fair process for union representation with the labor union Unite Here.
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The rally, held Friday afternoon on Rollins’ Mills Lawn, was organized by a coalition of social and economic justice-oriented student organizations at Rollins College, including the campus's Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter, the Muslim Student Union, the Black Student Union and the feminist organization Voices.
“These are people who cook our food every day, they deliver for us. They get it ready, regardless of how we order it, regardless of how many people come during those busy lunch hours and busy dinner hours,” said Mikhail Guchkov, a 20-year old Rollins College student and president of the college’s YDSA chapter. “They work hard, and they make fantastic food. And it is time that they actually get what they need so that they can live good lives — not having to work a second job.”
Last August, dining workers at the college — many of whom are people of color and immigrants — began quietly organizing with Unite Here, a labor union that represents 300,000 working people in the United States and Canada, including restaurant and concessions workers at Orlando's Disney World.
The Rollins College dining workers, spread out across various sites on the small campus, are officially employed by Sodexo, one of the largest multinational corporations in the world. The company, based in France, contracts with various public and private institutions, from college campuses, to convention centers, airports, and private companies like Google and Disney World. The company reported $22 billion in revenues last year, up 21% from the year before, with profits dipping during the early years of the pandemic.
Even still, Sodexo — a company that competes with other food service contractors — is a low bidder, and many of the company’s employees, not just at Rollins College, say that’s reflected in their wages and working conditions.
“We want a union because you get the chance to bargain,” said Mateo Herrera, a Sodexo dining worker at Rollins, and a student of the University of Central Florida, who joined Rollins students and faculty on Friday. With a union, he said, you can bargain for pay, for better job benefits, such as health benefits and a pension.
Multiple Sodexo workers at Rollins told Orlando Weekly last week that they’re organizing with the union to address issues such as stagnant wages, a lack of job security, unaffordable healthcare and unreliable scheduling.
Union workers make over 10% more on average compared to their nonunion counterparts in the same industry, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Unions can help to reduce gender and racial wage gaps, and provide greater access to benefits such as paid sick leave and holidays.
Many of the dining workers at Rollins, who earn around $15 an hour, don’t make enough to live anywhere near the college, which is located in the predominantly white city of Winter Park, where median rent is $2,100 — a cost that’s unaffordable for someone making roughly $2,600 per month working full-time.
“This is an incredibly wealthy part of town, and no worker here lives within 10 miles,” said Evan Caldwell, a University of Central Florida student and organizer with the Young Democratic Socialists of America. “People take the bus an hour and a half each way to get here to get poverty wages, and that's a shame.”
Dr. Margaret McLaren, a professor of philosophy at Rollins College, called out Sodexo for its practice of laying employees off during summer and holiday breaks, and preventing them from collecting unemployment benefits during those periods to offset the loss of income (Sodexo did not respond to this allegation when Orlando Weekly reached out for comment last week).
“In addition to the low wages, and the lack of health benefits, and lack of vacation, our workers constantly face job insecurity and therefore housing insecurity, and often food insecurity,” said Dr. McLaren. “And that's just not right.”
Workers told Orlando Weekly that Sodexo, which has a long history of anti-union behavior, has used intimidation tactics to scare workers from even talking to pro-union co-workers, has surveilled workers, and has separated pro-union workers while scheduling shifts.
Some of the dining workers at Rollins are monolingual Spanish speakers, according to Herrera, meaning they’re only fluent in Spanish. With limited job prospects, this has made workers terrified of losing the income they rely upon to care for themselves and their families.
“There's just definitely a culture of fear right now,” added Grant Donovan, a Sodexo worker and UCF student, who showed up to Friday’s rally in a "Union Pride" shirt featuring a Unite Here logo. The students and faculty showing up Friday afternoon to show their support “is so huge,” said Donovan.
“I think it will go a long way in helping us in this union effort, with the obstacles we face from the university currently and from Sodexo,” said Donovan.
A spokesperson for Sodexo told Orlando Weekly in a statement last week that they “respect the rights” of their employees to unionize or not to unionize, adding that they have union contracts in good standing with unions across the U.S.
The company did not respond to specific allegations regarding intimidation tactics by Sodexo managers that come straight out of the union-busting playbook.
Students at Rollins are calling on Sodexo to allow their employees a fair process to decide whether or not to unionize, without creating (or perpetuating, at this point) a climate of fear and intimidation.
But they’re also targeting the college. “We pay so much to go here,” Sofia Baker, an environmental studies student at Rollins, who’s double-majoring in Spanish, told Orlando Weekly. “The fact that the people that work here as part of our community aren't getting paid enough to have a living wage, and aren’t getting benefits, and are getting fired every semester — it just isn't fair, considering how much Rollins prides itself on providing the best for its students and faculty,” Baker, who’s treasurer of the college’s YDSA chapter, added.
A spokesperson for Rollins College told Orlando Weekly last week that the college supports employees’ right to discuss unionization.
Rollins’ financial activity is somewhat shrouded by the fact that they aren’t a public institution. But the college’s latest 990 Tax Form for 2020 shows functional expenses of $5.5 million on dining services and food purchases, with an overall $16.2 million profit on "auxiliary enterprises" that include dining facilities, housing and other services for the convenience and well-being of its students, faculty and staff. Altogether they reported over $206 million in total revenue that year, and about $176.5 million in expenses.
Herrera, one of the Sodexo workers who spoke on Friday, said Rollins College is one of Sodexo’s most profitable sites in the U.S. “Y’all think that any of the workers get that annual profit?” Herrera asked, receiving a resounding, “No!” from rally attendees.
“If you want to help, talk to workers,” Herrera added. “Let them know that they're welcome here and that you support them.”
Workers, and union organizers, told Orlando Weekly that the college and Sodexo have also sicced campus security and — on one occasion earlier this month — Winter Park police on union organizers.
The college spokesperson said they’d received complaints of harassment by Sodexo workers. “Rollins is a private campus, and we uphold our policies for the safety and security of all campus community members,” the spokesperson added.
The student rally on Friday coincided with a Board of Trustees meeting, scheduled to last through the day. Students who organized the rally-turned-march said they initially planned to march to the actual dining sites, to show dining workers their support, but that the college ultimately decided to restrict their march to the Mills Lawn. Union staff with Unite Here were barred from joining students on campus.
Orlando Weekly reached out to Rollins' communications team for comment, but they have not responded as of publication.
The group of students, faculty and workers marched around the designated lawn for a good 15 minutes or so with signs demonstrating messages such as “Union busting is disgusting” and “Power to the People.”
Chants of “When we fight, we win!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Sodexo greed has got to go” reverberated across the stretch of possibly fake grass (it was too green!), as a couple of campus security staff looked on with unreadable, blank expressions. “We’re just here,” said one security guard vaguely with a shrug, sitting in a golf cart in the shade.
After a brief appearance by State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a pro-labor Democrat who's made an effort to show up for students across the state this week, students at Rollins who organized the rally ended with a call to action. They encouraged their fellow students to to tell dining staff that they support them, to be kind, and to let them know they’re on their side — whatever they think of unionization. “We will make a difference,” said Guchkov.
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