Every day, hundreds of Emory students dine at Sodexo food service locations like the Dobbs University Center, Cox or Jazzman’s. While food quality at these locations has come under scrutiny, the working conditions under which our food is served remain largely unexamined. Students and Workers in Solidarity (SWS) formed to demand that Emory effectively address the situation of the hundreds of hard working food-service workers who make it possible for us to eat.

Managers often unilaterally determine when workers can take vacation time with little or no regard for their preferences or family responsibilities. They routinely ignore seniority by giving newer employees the privilege of allocating hours and work positions, meaning that workers with a longer tenure are not promoted nor is their pay raised. One two-year, full-time employee’s hours were suddenly slashed to 16 hours a week without notice or explanation. Another was forced to arrive at work while ill, only to be written up and told to go home.

Health care is an unaffordable option for many and workers are forced to pay a significant portion of their wages just to park on campus. Scores of other workers have shared everyday experiences of disrespect, harassment and intimidation.

After a series of meaningful interactions with Sodexo workers representing different campus food-service locations, SWS took the position of demanding institutional respect, a democratic workplace and the right to collective bargaining. It was workers’ stories that compelled us to confront the contradiction of attending a university that prides itself on being a principled institution and yet subcontracts a company that systematically violates basic labor and ethical standards. To remain silent on the issue of worker dignity and respect is to turn our backs on the people whose hard work and sacrifice make our daily university experience possible. This is not a question of compelling workers to join a particular union, but whether they even have the freedom from intimidation to form one if they choose.

While Sodexo claims that it fosters a “corporate family,” substantive issues of respect, democracy and collectivity cannot depend on the whims of good-hearted managers. Nor is the violation of these principles simply the fault of bad-hearted managers. Systemic power disparities between workers and management require the formal procedures and mechanisms of collective bargaining. Workers must feel safe to express grievances without fear of recrimination, and have the means to collectively negotiate for better working conditions, pay and health care on an equal footing with their employers — the same guarantees that Emory advocates in its code of ethics.

This code of ethics advocates the “dignity and rights of all persons through fair treatment, honest dealing and respect.” Sodexo’s business practices violate each of these stipulations and cast doubt on any claims of respect for workers.

Marketing agents have attempted to infiltrate SWS by posing as interested students. Managers have encouraged employees to report on fellow workers suspected of being union supporters, creating a fearful workplace atmosphere.

Sodexo’s Director of Labor Relations held mandatory anti-union meetings to spread blatant, unbalanced misinformation to discourage workers from demanding the right to collectively bargain. These meetings are veiled threats that have left workers feeling intimidated and harassed.

Although SWS’s demonstration temporarily stopped these meetings, we predict that Sodexo will take the offensive in the coming weeks by deploying their considerable resources and marketing teams to communicate a “socially-responsible” corporate ethic to the Emory community. However, a human rights issue cannot be resolved with a public relations strategy geared toward improving the company’s image. We encourage you to evaluate Sodexo’s words thoughtfully while remembering their clear financial interest in preventing workers from organizing at Emory and hundreds of other locations.

Emory must implement and enforce a detailed code regarding its subcontracting policies. Such a code must ensure that all subcontractors provide their workers institutionalized respect, a democratic workplace and the unhindered freedom and right to collectively bargain for better working conditions. Injustices against these workers are committed in the name of the community we call Emory. SWS calls upon all students, staff and faculty to seriously engage in supporting the workers’ struggle for a fair and just workplace.

Debjani Bhattacharyya, Ajit Chittambalam, Navyug Gill, Aimi Hamraie, Guirdex Masse and Laura Emiko Soltis are all graduate students in the Laney Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.