Students write President Wildes, demand labor code & first right of recall

Students wrote to President Kevin Wildes, S.J. today to demand that Loyola takes a stance in support of workers' rights on our campus.  The administration has made clear their stated policy as articulated by Vice President M.L. "Cissy" Petty that, "as a Catholic, Jesuit university, Loyola recognizes the right of employees to organize. Whatever Sodexo and its employees decide to do regarding collective bargaining, the university will support them in their decision."  

Loyola has made a conscious effort to avoid entering the ongoing dispute between Sodexo and its employees.  The administration has stood by while Sodexo has fired pro-union workers, intimidated its employees, and engaged in surveillance all in violation of federal law.  The students have decided that it is time for Loyola to ensure that campus workers have a truly free and neutral environment in which they can made decisions regarding unionization. That requires Loyola to take active steps to ensure that neutrality can exist on campus. Loyola University has failed to recognize that neutrality is not the same as passivity.

The students wrote in their letter that they have two demands:

1. Loyola must address the ongoing abuses of campus workers' rights by implementing the provided Campus Labor Code of Conduct by the start of the Fall 2010 academic year.
2. In order to protect the currently employed Sodexo workers at Loyola, President Wildes must encourage Sodexo to adopt a "first right of recall" policy whereby all workers currently employed by Sodexo will be given first preference when rehiring workers in the Fall.

A student hand-delivered the following documents to President Wildes as he was walking through the Peace Quad.  To ensure delivery, they were also emailed to President Wildes.

• A letter calling Loyola's administration to protect workers' rights
• A petition with over 600 student signatories supporting the rights of campus workers to organize without intimidation
• A Campus Labor Code of Conduct 

We await a response from the President.