While many other businesses have struggled to weather the recession, the same can't be said for Sodexo. Sodexo CEO Michel Landel has said the economic downturn actually creates an "opportunity" for the company. In fiscal year 2008, Sodexo reported revenues of more than $20 billion and reaped operating profits of over $1 billion. So far, in the first half of fiscal year 2009, Sodexo has reported that its operating profits grew by 7.1% at a time when many employers are struggling to stay above water.

Today, Sodexo is the world's 22nd-largest employer, with 355,000 employees in 80 countries world-wide and 120,000 employees in North America. Sodexo has the ability -- and the responsibility -- to raise the bar by providing jobs that can support a family and lessen the burden on the public safety net. Given the sheer size of Sodexo's operations, it's no surprise that the Bellon family -- which founded the company and remains the largest shareholder -- has a combined fortune of $2.2 billion, placing them at #305 on Forbes' 2009 list of the world's 793 billionaires.

But while Sodexo can afford to act in our communities' best interest, Sodexo's workers often struggle to make ends meet. Sodexo's desire for greater and greater corporate profits at the expense of the women and men who make the company work has led to:

• Poverty wages and inadequate access to affordable health care
• Wage theft
• Ongoing allegations of discrimination
• Unsafe working conditions

Poverty Wages and Inadequate Health Care

Sodexo workers make as little as $7.35 per hour and often cannot afford the health insurance that the company offers. Even those workers who make a little bit more per hour still hover at or below the poverty line, and some workers struggle to survive on incomes of $17,000 or less--far below the government's poverty guideline for a family of four ($22,050.)

"You know they have the money out there to take care of everybody," says Brenda Espinoza, a food service worker at Doctor's Hospital in Manteca, CA, who is in the process of organizing a union at her worksite. "We get a pat on the back, but nothing to show for all of our experience and hard work." To make ends meet, she and her daughter Kathy, also a food service worker at Doctor's Hospital, along with Kathy's children, save money by living together and sharing housing costs.

"If we don't help each other, we're never going to go anywhere," Brenda adds. "And in the long run, just think what you're going to have for you and your family."

But at other worksites, where workers have had the benefits of a collective bargaining agreement, Sodexo has found a way to pay more. Leslie Williams, an elementary school food service worker in Orange, NJ, says that the only way to do that is through a union. "Now since we've got the union," she says, "we get raises, annual raises, we get more sick days and holiday pay, we have seniority, and we have respect from the bosses. You don't have to worry about somebody taking your overtime, or anything like that anymore."

Her advice for her fellow Sodexo workers is simple: "Don't be afraid," she says emphatically. "Stand up to these bosses, let these bosses know you're fighting for yourself, you're fighting for your grandkids, you're fighting for your kids."

» Read more about Sodexo's poor pay and benefits.

Wage Theft

With as little as many Sodexo workers are paid, it's especially remarkable that there are numerous allegations that workers at the company sometimes don't even receive everything the company owes them

For example, Sodexo has allegedly forced employees to work off the clock, failed to pay people for all the hours they worked, neglected to pay proper overtime, or denied a worker their job back after returning from medical or maternity leave--a right guaranteed under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

» Read more about allegations of wage theft.

After four years of legal wrangling, Sodexo agreed in April 2005 to pay $80 million to settle a race-bias suit filed by thousands of black employees who charged that they were barred from promotions and segregated within the company.

The agreement, one of the biggest race-related job bias settlements in recent years, provided payouts to 10 lead plaintiffs and as many as 3,000 other black employees who worked at the company between 1998 and 2004 and also includes detailed provisions for increasing diversity at the company, including promotion incentives, monitoring and training.

Since then, however, there have been a number of other discrimination suits against Sodexo, some of which have involved the company paying nearly $1 million to plaintiffs and, in some cases, agreeing to operate under federal consent decrees.

» Read more about allegations of discrimination.

Unsafe Working Conditions

Sodexo tries to squeeze out every last penny of profit by cutting corners on the most basic necessities, even if it means threatening the safety and health of its employees.

Since 2000, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and various state workplace safety agencies have found 160 violations and levied penalties of more than $200,000 against Sodexo for problems at its various worksites across the country.

» Read more about unsafe working conditions