Sodexo Protest Returns to Lafayette

For the second time in less than a year, students at are protesting the campus food service company.

The company is , which supplies dining service to virtually every hospital and college in the Lehigh Valley. At some of these colleges -- including Lafayette and Muhlenberg -- students are petitioning their administration to drop the company, saying it mistreats his employees.

On Friday morning, a small group of Lafayette students staged a protest outside Fairnon Campus Center. They were joined by representatives from the Service Employees International Union, as well as former Sodexo worker Carina Mieses, who said she lost her job with the company in the Dominican Republic after trying to unionize.

"We've been overworked, frequently understaffed," Mieses said through interpreter Vicko Alvarez. "There's a lack of respect."

The protest was divided into two camps after school security came and told non-students they'd need to move off campus. Mieses and the SEIU contingent headed around the corner, while the four student protesters stayed at Fairnon.

Sodexo maintains that many of the charges against it are drummed up by the SEIU, and in the past that its workers are free to unionize, and have in the past.

Genevieve Repsher, a Sodexo employee from Easton who works at Lafayette, says the company hasn't responded to workers request to unionize.

"It's still a struggle," she said in a phone interview Friday. "We try and we don't seem to get anywhere at all."

Repsher said workers want better wages and healthcare. She said she takes home about $250 a week, and pays $240 a month for healthcare.

College President Daniel Weiss has been receptive to the students concerns, said Rudy Silva, a senior from Costa Rica. 

Lafayette spokesman Roger Clow said in a statement that "the adminstration will continue to meet with students to discuss issues related to dining at the College."

In a related story, 3,500 area teachers -- including those from Easton -- have joined the Lehigh Valley Labor Council and Pennsylvania AFL/CIO.