As its 10-year contract comes to an end, Sodexo is facing criticism from the United Professional and Service Employees Union Local 1222 and several of its own workers for its alleged tactics when pushing back against efforts to unionize student employees.

Last semester, the union, which says it represents around 30,000 members across New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut, began a campaign to organize student workers. Paul Iachetta, a labor relations representative, said union stewards have been confronted by their Sodexo supervisors for distributing union authorization cards to their student coworkers, causing them to fear joining.

“I do think they’re trying to intimidate the students,” Iachetta said in an interview with Pipe Dream. “You have a lot of international students there who may not know exactly the process for organizing, and even our own students don’t understand it. It’s new to everybody, it’s like anybody walking into something they don’t get. You get a little intimidated when you don’t have the facts and you don’t know.”

One steward, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told Pipe Dream that their manager reprimanded them after giving coworkers union cards to review, telling them not to discuss joining the union with the students. Steve Weigand, another labor representative, said the steward notified him of the incident and that the reprimand violated federal law, as employees are permitted to discuss union matters at work, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

Later, the steward said Iachetta told them they could discuss the union and distribute cards to student employees as long as they were off shift. After telling the supervisor they would give out union cards to students, they said the supervisor then asked who gave them “permission” to do so. Union representatives said the steward was not signing cards on duty but “talking across the table.”

“If I can talk about my kid’s birthday party, or where I went on vacation, or what I did over Christmas break or what I’m doing this weekend — I’m selling my car to my fellow coworkers while I’m working — then I can talk to them about union work,” Weigand said. “That would be a form of discrimination against union workers.”

Iachetta said past efforts to unionize non-student workers on campus led to eventual support from University administrators. This time, as of late January, none of the union’s letters to the University or its president, Harvey Stenger, have been answered. He added that he reached out to student groups for support — as UPSEU had in the past during contract negotiations — but had yet to receive a response. The University did not return requests for comment.

On Jan. 27, Sodexo issued a memorandum, obtained by Pipe Dream, to its student employees about the cards and their right to join a union.

“The letter was issued in response to the signing of Union Authorization Cards with the intent to inform students of their legal rights,” Dan McLain, a Sodexo district manager, wrote to Pipe Dream. “Sodexo fully respects the decision students make regarding union representation.”

One clause said UPSEU “may require every student employee to pay dues and/or other fees to the Union” and would give the union power “to tell Sodexo to terminate you from employment with Sodexo if you fail to pay the required Union dues/fees.” It suggested students think about their employment relationships with managers before signing a card, to consider if UPSEU made promises to urge signing cards and if the union will “really be able to deliver on their promises.”

Iachetta said that union dues are based on hourly wages and hours. A typical student employee working less than 10 hours each week and earning $16 an hour would pay $4 a week in dues, and additional initiation fees are waived for students, he added.

“Now, a lot of these students are nervous about what they’re doing because of letters like that,” Iachetta said. “Because of some pressure from the managers, because they witnessed our steward get reprimanded and threatened with discipline because [they were] speaking to a student worker in regard to the union.”

The National Labor Relation Act, passed in 1935, mandates that negotiations must take place between an employer and a union to create a written agreement regarding the conditions of their employment, and it prohibits discrimination against employees to encourage or discourage them from joining a union are prohibited under the act. Some executives, managers and supervisors may not be protected under the act, as they are viewed as part of the employer’s management team, not its labor force.

Under the 1947 Labor Management Relations Act, which made changes to the original act, unions cannot refuse to bargain in “good faith” with employers or charge their members excessive dues or fees. A free speech clause was added to the amended law, “providing that the expression of views, arguments, or opinions shall not be evidence of an unfair labor practice absent the threat of reprisal or promise of benefit,” according to the National Labor Relations Board.