From CNN Money (4/10/08) *Abridged :
NEW YORK (Fortune) — With complaints about wages, health care and food quality, an organized labor campaign against food-service giant Aramark came to New York this week to target Goldman Sachs, Warburg Pincus and CCMP Capital – three of the firms that took the company private in 2006 in an $8.1 billion deal.
A union-led campaign against Aramark, which took place over ten days and several cities, culminated Thursday morning at the annual meeting of Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) in lower Manhattan. As Goldman executives and investors entered the headquarters of its asset management business on Old Slip street, they passed a group of about 50 protestors behind a police barricade who waved banners, blew whistles, banged drums and thunder sticks, and chanted slogans.
“Ar-a-mark, you no good,” shouted one protestor into a microphone, “treat your workers like you should!”
For the past several months, two unions have been targeting Philadelphia-based Aramark (which had revenues of $8.4 billion through the first three quarters of 2007) as part of an effort to raise concerns about the service economy, which the union believes generally pays workers poor wages with minimal benefits. It is also part of a broader attempt by unions to shift their recruiting focus from manufacturing to service workers.
A spokesperson from Goldman Sachs says that “as an advisor to Aramark, and as a user of its services, we are keen that the dispute between the company and its employees is resolved quickly and fairly.” Goldman contracts Aramark for its own cafeterias, but the protestors were workers from other locations accompanied by union staff members.
Late Wednesday afternoon, workers also went to the offices of Warburg Pincus and CCMP Capital, two of Aramark’s other private-equity buyers, where they spoke to representatives of the firms. “They were polite enough to listen to us, but they said the big bosses were in a meeting,” says Mark Williams, who works for Aramark at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.
“Since the private equity deal, the company has become more arrogant,” he says. “They seem tougher in union negotiations. They want us to work more to earn health-care benefits.”
Some unionized Aramark workers in New York are also striking as part of a contract dispute, attracting attention from passersby with an eight-foot-tall inflatable skunk on 52nd Street. They work in three cafeterias, at the CBS Building in Midtown and two offices of the Bank of New York in lower Manhattan. At all three cafeterias the workers are employed by Aramark, not the tenants.
CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) and Bank of New York (BK, Fortune 500) spokespeople said their companies have no plans to get involved in the dispute. “Over the years, many CBS employees have gotten to know and appreciate the men and women employed in our cafeteria,” says CBS spokesperson Shannon Jacobs. The cafeterias have stayed open during the protests.
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Meanwhile in New Haven, Connecticut, there is a rally to oust Aramark from the local school district
Mobilization Alert: Rally Against Aramark April 14 in New Haven
The campaign to expel the private company Aramark from New Haven’s public schools continues with an April 14 rally in front of New Haven City Hall on 165 Church St. Join New Haven public service workers and AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee on the steps of City Hall as we renew our call to stop corrupt privatization and incompetent outsourcing.
- Click here for the April 14 Rally Flyer.
- Click here for directions to New Haven City Hall.
Parents, students, and school employees are urging members of the New Haven Board of Alderman to cut all ties with the private contractor Aramark because of the company’s mismanagement of food services and facilities maintenance.
Aramark is under fire because of the poor quality of food services and facility management in the New Haven school system. New Haven has contracted with Aramark for the last 12 years — at a cost of millions to the taxpayers.
Community members are telling elected officials to return the New Haven school system to a self-management model that would save taxpayers millions and provide better services to the kids.
News stories on Aramark in New Haven:
- Click here to read “Chicken — and Company” — Blasted in the New Haven Independent.
- Click here to read “Aramark Excoriated at Aldermen’s Public Hearing” in the New Haven Register.
- Click here to watch ”Clean Schools” on Fox 61 News.
- Click here for a press release on Council 4’s billboard campaign pointing to the waste caused by bear proof dumpsters.
- Click here to read “Union billboards slam Aramark on trash bins” in the Feb. 12 New Haven Register.
- Click here to read “Trash Talkin” in the Feb. 13 New Haven Advocate.
- Click here to read “School board to seek new food, facilities pacts as unions rally against Aramark” in the Feb. 2 New Haven Register.
- Click here to read the editorial “City should end dealings with Aramark” co-authored by Council 4 Executive Director Sal Luciano and New Haven Central Labor Council President Bob Proto.
- Click here to read “Custodians Want Break with Aramark” in the Jan. 14 New Haven Register.
- Click here to read “School Custodians: Fire Aramark” in the Jan. 15 New Haven Independent.
- Click here to read “School Workers Petition to Cut Ties with Aramark” in the Jan. 15 New Haven Register.
Learn more about the perils of privatization and contracting out:
- Click here for AFSCME’s Privatization Website Resources.
- Click here for the daily AFSCME Privatization Update.
- Click here to read “Schools for Sale,” which examines the privatization of non-instructional school services.
- Click here for Council 4’s “Privatization Equals Corruption” site
SEIU and UNITE-HERE have united to hist a website called Facts On Aramark
