Almost 200 food-service workers and about 400 student employees will receive their first UC Davis paychecks this month after making the transition from Sodexo to university employment.

Their move to direct university employment on Jan. 2 makes good on the campus's commitment in April to adopt a new approach to managing its food service and to assume the role of employer for nonmanagement workers.

Under a four-year extension of the current contract, Sodexo will continue to manage the food service program including dining services in the residence halls, many retail food services, catering services, concessions and vending operations. The overall gross value of the contract, now in effect through June 2014, stands at about $23 million annually.

Janet Gong, senior associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said a strong set of principles and a spirit of collaboration among all the involved groups and food service workers have guided the transition. "The result has been a thoughtful and thorough process with a relatively smooth transition for most employees," she said.

The guiding principles included striving to create and maintain a fair and supportive workplace for all those who work on campus, including access to a range of competitive benefits; providing high-quality food service that students can afford; and honoring the campus's contractual obligations.

Beginning in 2006, some Sodexo workers, students and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) sought to highlight disparities in Sodexo wages and health care benefits and lack of union representation. They pressed the campus -- through discussions and protests -- to make the workers university employees.

Employee transition

Karen Hull, associate vice chancellor for human resources, said 185 of 195 nonmanagement employees have made the transition. The service unit of AFSCME now represents most of the employees. The Coalition of University Employees represents 22, and one individual is represented by the technical unit of the University and Professional Technical Employees. These 185 employees will receive their first UC Davis paycheck on Jan. 30.

In consideration of individual medical or financial circumstances, Hull said, the university is allowing two workers to make the transition later this spring. An additional eight will have up to two years to join UC Davis, find other employment with Sodexo or retire.

"We didn't want the transition itself to disadvantage any workers," Hull said, "so we reviewed each employee's unique circumstances and treated special cases with some flexibility."

About 400 students made the transition to university employment; they will receive their first UC Davis paychecks next week. Sodexo will continue to provide about $85,000 annually in fee assistance and book reimbursement through an incentive program for student employees.

Dining Services

Emily Galindo, Student Housing director, said the new model for food service is adding about $2 million in annual costs for residential dining. Since an August 2007 agreement to boost wages and benefits for the Sodexo workers, some housing funds normally set aside for capital projects and maintenance have been used to offset the additional costs.

This academic year, students are paying an average of 3.9 percent, or $330, more to live in residence halls. She said a similar increase is expected for the 2009-10 academic year.

Student Housing and Sodexo will negotiate any potential increases to the annual food service costs for residential dining. "This approach will help the university moderate rate increases for students living on campus," Galindo said. "We believe it is in the best interest of our students to have slow and predictable growth in rates instead of a dramatic shift in any given year."

In another provision of the contract amendment, Sodexo will provide up to $3 million for capital improvements for the renovation and expansion of the Silo Student Union. Sodexo will provide $500,000 within the next 90 days for the university to use to expedite planning and design; the contractor will provide another $2.5 million in 2012 for capital costs related to the project.

Process

In August 2007, UC Davis and Sodexo reached agreement to provide increased benefits and wages for the company's food service employees on campus.

Following a six-month review of food service delivery models and best practices, the university announced in April that it would adopt the new model and nonmanagement Sodexo employees would be eligible to become university employees. At the time, university officials estimated that it would take nine to 12 months to address the complexity of human resource issues.

Since then, the university transition team has reviewed positions and worked through a variety of compensation and benefits matters.

In October, Sodexo workers applied for the university positions, and all were successful. In November and December, the university held orientation sessions on university benefits and provided training for Sodexo supervisors on applicable university policies and procedures.
Throughout the process, the university kept Sodexo employees informed, hosted multiple town hall meetings for employees, and provided bilingual responses to frequently asked questions.