They may not be out picketing yet, but Sodexho's food service workers in Sechelt are part of the Hospital Employees' Union (HEU)'s job action to increase wages.Sodexho workers in B.C. voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike. Since Sept. 15, the 27 food service workers at St. Mary's Hospital, Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge have been continuing to work to meet essential service levels during a rotating strike, which is currently in Powell River.Picket lines could start up in Sechelt during the rotation, according to HEU spokesperson Margie Blamey. However, the union is not announcing ahead of time when and where the strikes will happen, she said.The workers do the food preparation, cooking and serving of patients' food. Retail food services are not considered an essential service under provincial labour laws.Wages are at issue in the dispute. Ninety per cent of Sodexho workers make $10.15 an hour, Blamey said. During collective agreement negotiations, Sodexho offered a 10 per cent wage increase over the next three years, while HEU is asking for a 45 per cent increase.Blamey said the typical Sodexho worker is a single mother who is living below the poverty line."A job with Sodexho is a passport to poverty," Blamey said.But Sodexho has five-year contracts with health authorities based on certain wage rates, Sodexho's negotiator Richard Longpre said. The workers all knew the terms of their employment when they signed on with Sodexho, he said, and now they're asking for increases of 45 per cent.Negotiations for Sodex-ho's first collective agreement began in March, Longpre said. The two parties agreed on non-monetary terms of the agreement in May, but could not agree on wage increases."The HEU has room to move, we have room to move, but the difference is so huge," he said.Since then, Longpre said, the two parties have not been doing much negotiating, but both are continuing to talk to their mediator, Vince Ready. Both Sodexho and the HEU want to settle, he added.The HEU hasn't heard from Sodexho since it issued strike notice, Blamey said. "We want Sodexho back at the bargaining table to negotiate a fair wage," Blamey said. "We are ready to get back to the table at any time."Sodexho is a French company contracting food and cleaning services to clients around the world. It began its private contract with Vancouver Coastal Health two years ago.
