Status of IUF-Sodexo Negotiations for an International Framework Agreement Guaranteeing Sodexo Employees Access to Internationally Recognized Rights

GENEVA, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sodexo correctly claims that the IUF has not agreed to sign the most recent version of an international worker rights agreement proposed by Sodexo. That position arose from a February 1, 2011 meeting of a number of IUF affiliates representing Sodexo employees in a number of the company's major markets. At that meeting there was recognition that Sodexo's proposal had merit but that for a significant number of our members it fell short in some critical areas.

The most recent version of the international agreement proposed by Sodexo, whilst covering a number of important areas and confirming a number of internationally mandated rights, fails to adequately establish how Sodexo employees will in practice access the rights which are described in the draft. This was felt by a significant number of our affiliates to be particularly true in countries where, even though the rights described exist in theory, access to those rights remains fraught with obstacles and rendering those rights difficult if not impossible to access. It is those concerns amongst a significant number of IUF members that explains the IUF's current inability to sign Sodexo's latest proposal, a position that was confirmed at the meeting in London on February 1, 2011. Any assertion that this arose simply from the position of any single IUF affiliate is not an accurate reflection of the process nor the outcome of the February 1, 2011 meeting.

However, far from accepting that this process of difficult negotiations is at an end as might be inferred from Sodexo's press release the IUF invites Sodexo to continue negotiations and specifically to reach agreement on outstanding concrete issues that relate to the manner by which in practice Sodexo employees can gain access to union information through union representatives, the manner in which the company will express its view that workers are free to join a trade union of their choice, and will not in any way obstruct or seek to influence that choice and fair and expeditious processes through which workers who have expressed their choice to form or join a union might see their union recognized by the company and thus be able to take up their rights to fair and fruitful collective bargaining.

Confirming that these negotiations should not be seen to have come to an end IUF general secretary Ron Oswald stressed, "The door is not closed on further discussions, and I remain hopeful that we can jointly reach an agreement that will satisfy a significant majority of IUF affiliates and thus move us into a period of constructive engagement with Sodexo. An engagement that carries the guarantee of fairness, dignity and the full and free exercise of rights for any and all employees of this major global company. The IUF stands ready to continue talking – we invite Sodexo to do the same."

The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is an international trade union federation composed of 389 trade unions in 124 countries with an affiliated membership of over 2.6 million members. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

www.iuf.org

SOURCE International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)