Not long after Sodexo settled labor charges in West Orange, New Jersey, for interrogation and surveillance of their workers, the company has found itself in hot water once again.

This month Sodexo settled with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after it found merit in workers' charges that management coercively interrogated, threatened, spied on and unfairly disciplined cafeteria workers at Lafayette College.

Under an agreement with the NLRB, Sodexo must remove the discipline it imposed on Genevieve Repsher, a Lafayette cafeteria worker, who charged that she was fired in retaliation for her support of joining a union. Sodexo must also individually notify each employee of their right to form a union, and pledge to not "coercively question" employees or interfere with possible union activity through surveillance, blocking meetings, or removing employees from worksites. The NLRB began investigating alleged violations in February, after SEIU local union 32BJ filed the charges on the workers' behalf.

After working seven years for Sodexo and only earning a meager 9 dollars an hour, Genevieve Repsher started standing up for her rights. As The Express-Times reports:

When she showed interest in organizing fellow workers with Service Employees International Union Local 32-BJ, she said, she was followed, watched, interrogated and disciplined by Sodexo management. ...Repsher said Wednesday she hopes the situation improves with the settlement, "but I expect things will go back to intimidation just like before."

Many workers and union leaders feel that the NLRB compliance is unfortunately not enough.

"It's an outrage that a company like Sodexo can unleash a campaign of coercion against workers and the only penalty is a mailing and to remove discipline that shouldn't have been there in the first place," said Wayne MacManiman, Mid-Atlantic Area Director of 32BJ SEIU. "Sodexo workers deserve a fair process to form a union--free from management's interference."

In addition to Lehigh Valley Hospital and Lafayette College, Sodexo workers at Muhlenberg College, Moravian College, LehighUniversity and Sacred Heart Hospital are organizing with 32BJ SEIU. Sodexo workers across the country have been fighting this year for higher wages, access to affordable healthcare, and the right to form a union to earn better working conditions.

"Allegations that we interfere with workers' rights to unionize are false," Sodexo spokesperson Alfred King said in an April interview with Pennsylvania television station WFMZ-TV.

Perhaps this most recent settlement will educate Mr. King and his colleagues on the reality of management-employee relations in Sodexo facilities. Yesterday King told Lehigh Valley newspaper The Morning Call, "We wanted this settled before the fall. Part of the settlement is to move on."

For now, Sodexo workers are skeptical that the company has learned any lessons thus far. "Sodexo has intimidated people to not support the union," said food service worker Gregory Ward. "If Sodexo sticks to the agreement, it would be enough to make up for what they've done, but I don't know if they will."