Keck cafeteria workers boycott for fair pay


Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the Keck hospital workers were striking Wednesday. They held a boycott. The Daily Trojan regrets the error. 

Keck Hospital of USC cafeteria workers organized a boycott at the Keck School of Medicine of USC campus on Wednesday, advocating for a wage increase for food service employees.

This is not the first time that workers have voiced their issues with their treatment. In February, 900 USC Keck health care workers went on strike protesting low wages and inadequate benefits after several USC students and National Union of Healthcare Workers representatives delivered a letter to President C. L. Max Nikias notifying him about the strike and requesting his help in ending contract negotiations.

In April, contractual changes for improved wages and benefits were made for 800 of the workers, but did not extend to the 100 or so cafeteria workers employed by Sodexo, a food services contracting company based in France. Sodexo is a large multinational corporation that functions in 80 different countries worldwide, and over 420,000 employees in total.

“We do not employ the workers. An outside company, Sodexo, does,” the University responded when asked for comment about the Wednesday boycott.

Yet, some of the workers do not believe that outsourcing management to Sodexo is a viable excuse for subpar contractual conditions.

Sandra Maldonado, a USC dietary worker, echoed the sentiment in the January NUHW press release.

“USC tries to hide behind the Sodexo contract to insulate itself from the consequences of Sodexo’s poverty wages,” Maldonado said. “But the University has a duty to make sure that its contractors are behaving honorably and treating the workers with respect. Sodexo fails on both counts.”

In the same press release, President of the NUHW Sal Rosselli recalled instances of USC workers relying on government assistance. Rosselli criticized the University for the lack of action.

“It’s unconscionable that one of the richest universities in the state forces some of its most dedicated employees to rely on public assistance,” Rosselli said in the press release. “It’s disrespectful to the workers and it’s unfair to taxpayers.”