On Monday afternoon, workers in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, protested Sodexo's unfair wages, holding up signs that read "Support Your Cafeteria Workers" and "We feed your kids but we get paid poverty wages" as they gathered along Southern Boulevard. Sodexo managers may have failed to stop and talk with their workers in the New Mexico town, but the press certainly took notice.

"It's not our responsibility," is what Rio Rancho School Board President Don Schlicte has told food service workers about a fight for higher wages in the New Mexico school district. But that wasn't good enough for some Sodexo workers. This afternoon, food service workers in Rio Rancho are taking a stand as they plan to picket at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in protest of Sodexo's unfair labor practices and low wages.

In the search for innovative ways to improve school food services, Sodexo recently went a step too far in one Arizona school district. On Monday, Sodexo violated state law when it collected fingerprints from children in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek school cafeterias, according to Cottonwood Journal Extra news editor Greg Ruland. The fingerprints were collected after they jumped the gun on a new computerized system implemented to associate with student identification numbers and allow parents to track what food their children are purchasing.

Today in New Jersey, Assemblywoman Linda R. Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Assemblyman Wayne P. DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) called for an investigation by Attorney General Paula Dow into the financial dealings of Sodexo with the state. The urging of the Attorney General comes on the heels of a $20 million settlement between Sodexo and the state of New York, after an investigation of allegations that Sodexo violated state and federal law by hiding vendor rebates in connection with services provided to 21 school districts and the State University of New York.

In South Plainfield, New Jersey, the agency responsible for enforcing standards for workplace safety and health has cited Sodexo for violations of nine separate safety hazards involving building cleaning and maintenance services that endangered workers and could have harmed students.

Today, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a $20 million settlement with Sodexo for overcharging 21 New York schools districts, the State University of New York (SUNY) system, and state facilities that include a center that provides services to abused, neglected and abandoned children.

Last week, Ed Bruske at Grist wrote a startling article about the kickbacks contracted food service companies are earning by partnering with particular, large food manufacturers - which often leads to schools serving processed foods with high sugar and sodium contents. Food manufacturers like Kellogg's and Pepperidge Farm offer rebates as an incentive to purchasers to buy certain products over others for school meals. The rebates are often called "kickbacks" because the food service companies expect to be paid them in full, without benefitting school districts. While money changes hands, your child is eating Pop-Tarts and drinking sugary, flavored milk.

Earlier this month, Clean Up Sodexo joined thousands of parents, teachers, and students to gather in Memphis for the PTA's National Convention, headlined by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Over the course of the three-day event, held just blocks from the National Civil Rights Museum, an endless stream of PTA members swung by our booth to sample healthy snacks and hold animated conversations about concerns in their school districts.

Leslie Williams is a dedicated food service worker in NJ who loves her job as a cook for the elementary school students at Orange.

Leslie is a dedicated food service worker in NJ who loves her job as a cook for the elementary school students at Orange. She believes...