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 yearly 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 grand kids, you're fighting for your kids."

Poverty Wages

Sodexo workers make as little as $7.35 per hour. For a full-time, year-around worker making more than this (example: $8.27), this translates to earnings of just over $17,201 per year -- well below the poverty guideline of $22,050 for a family of four set by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

But many Sodexo employees are not offered full-time work and at some locations -- such as universities and school districts -- they are essentially laid off over the summer when the schools close, and may be forced to either rely on unemployment benefits or scramble to find a temporary second job for a few months.

This means that even workers who have somewhat higher hourly wages -- for example, $10.54 per hour -- earn annual incomes from Sodexo of just $16,021, which is even farther below the poverty line than the lower-paid worker who is offered year-around work. In fact, Sodexo would have to pay a seasonal worker in a school or university $14.50 per hour to earn enough to keep a family of four above the poverty line.

Health Care

While Sodexo employees are offered health insurance options, the cost to the employee is often prohibitively expensive except for the most basic of plans. The HMOs that Sodexo offers in many individual markets generally have an employee cost of just over $120 per pay period for family coverage.

For a full-time, seasonal worker who earns $8.27 per hour, that means spending more than a quarter (1/4th) of his or her annual income on health care, leaving little left over for other basic necessities. Even for somewhat higher-paid, year-around workers making $10.54 an hour (which still puts their earning at just below the poverty line for a family of four), paying the employee premium would eat up 15% of their annual income.

Sodexo does offer some lower-cost plans, but the benefits can be very limited. For the BasicNet plan, for example, annual hospital costs are capped at $2,000, preventative care costs are capped at $100 per year, and outpatient surgery costs are capped at $400 per year. The PPO option, while somewhat better, still has a maximum out-of-pocket cost of $5,000 per individual, which by itself could lead a family who already is hovering at or below the poverty line into bankruptcy if a serious medical issue arises.

Cutting Standards By Outsourcing Good Jobs

An important part of Sodexo's business model is to take good jobs and outsource them at a fraction of the labor cost, promising big cost savings to clients in the process.

In Zionsville, Indiana, for example, after school officials signed a three-year janitorial contract with Sodexo in June 2009, long-time cleaners in the district saw pay cuts that ranged from 11% to 35%. The move also sparked fears of outsourcing and wage cuts among many other employees in the district. According to the head of the Zionsville Education Association, "There is concern how that is going to impact the people in the school, not just the teachers, but the kids."

Sodexo Can Afford to Do Better

Sodexo was founded by the Bellon family, whose family-controlled company, Bellon SA, still owns more than 59 million shares in the company. As of November 19, 2009, those shares were worth more than $2.2 billion. Like other shareholders, Bellon SA is paid an annual dividend for each share of stock it owns. In 2009, Bellon SA made $107.4 million off its dividends from Sodexo, of which approximately $87.5 million went directly into the hands of members of the Bellon family.

It would take more than 5,000 Sodexo employees, working 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year at $8.27 an hour, an entire year to earn as much as the Bellon family earned off its Sodexo dividends in 2009.

In fact, it would take a full-time Sodexo employee earning $8.27 per hour an entire year to make what Sodexo's founding family earns in just 1.7 hours from its annual dividend payment.