Two weeks ago, Tiyana Landry, a Sodexo custodial worker in New Orleans, got one of those emergency calls that makes a parent feel helpless.

Her infant son had a high fever, with bumps and blisters over his entire body. Before she rushed to the hospital, she called her Sodexo manager and told him that she had to go to the emergency room - and even volunteered to take an unpaid sick day.

Hours later, the same supervisor called her back. Their general manager had demanded that she leave her child and come to work - and threatened to fire her if she did not. Because Sodexo keeps staff numbers to a minimum at the elementary school she works at, there was nobody to relieve her.

The workers of Sodexo, one of the world's largest food and facilities companies, face challenges each and every day. In return for their hard work, these community members are frequently paid poverty wages and lack access to affordable healthcare. Many of Sodexo's workers aren't given sick days, even during flu season, and yet some are cooking food for our children, hospital patients, senior citizens, and at many other public and private buildings.

That's why this is a community issue. Sodexo's workers have children in the same school districts and live in the same communities as the people they serve. They're there for our kids, serving them each day, cooking and cleaning for them, but some aren't allowed to be there for their own children.

Workers like Tiyana shouldn't face threats of discipline for making the same choices that any of us would make. That's what our campaign, Clean Up Sodexo, is all about: workers, parents, students and educators coming together to build stronger communities.

If you haven't already, you can stay better in touch with our campaign by clicking the link here:

http://action.seiu.org/cleanupsodexo