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• Food service workers say contract is missing an ingredient May 2, 2008 Food service workers at the Meadowlands and Monmouth racetracks could get locked out of their jobs on Wednesday if a contract dispute is not resolved by then, according to their union.
  
  
• Aramark On The Way Out April 29, 2008 New Haven�s public schools are moving toward managing their own kitchens.
  
  
• Passover Becomes a Rallying Cry for Progressives April 17, 2008 Activists are hoping that as Jews sit down at their Seder tables this year, they will turn their thoughts not just to ancient Egypt but to Sudan, Tibet and even the polar ice caps.
  
  

Although we do different kinds of work, many UNITE HERE members and unorganized workers in our industries work for the same huge companies. That’s because there’s a growing trend for hospitals, schools, universities and government agencies to contract out food, laundry and cleaning services to “multi-service” companies.

Three huge companies dominate the rapidly growing multi-service industry: Aramark, which is based in the U.S., Sodexho, a French company, and Compass, which is headquartered in England. Each has hundreds of thousands of employees spread across the globe.

There are already more than 300,000 multi-service workers in the U.S. and Canada, and the number will more than triple in the next 10 years.

UNITE HERE already represents 10% of the workers in the multi-service industry, and we’re well positioned to take on this growing giant. We’ve joined forces with the Service Employees International Union, which represents building service workers. Working together, we’ll organize and raise standards for food, laundry and cleaning service workers at the same time.

We’re organizing laundry workers in Phoenix, Florida and Illinois; food workers at Marine Corps bases on the East and West Coasts, at corporate cafeterias and in school districts in dozens of states; and hospital housekeepers all over the U.S. and Canada.

Our task is to raise standards for workers by taking on industry giants. It’s the only way to win a bright future for ourselves and our children.