SEIU rally is 'about the future of Rochester'
Union leaders and food service workers stepped up their battle with Mayo Clinic over its plan to outsource hundreds of jobs, staging their second rally in as many months while announcing a portion of those workers are seeking to join a union.
"It's not just about this group of 700 workers. This is about the future of Rochester, and are we going to be a city of haves and have nots?" said Jamie Gulley, president of the Service Employees International Union, as food service workers, union representatives and DFL lawmakers and candidates rallied in front of the Gonda Building.
SEIU Healthcare is battling Mayo's plan to subcontract its food vending service to Morrison Health Care at 20 facilities across the country. The move would affect an estimated 700 Mayo food service workers in southern Minnesota, who would become Morrison employees under the proposal. The switch would also affect Sodexo food service workers who work at Mayo facilities but are not Mayo employees. Under Mayo's proposal, they too would become Morrison employees.
Sodexo employees say the proposal would mean thousands of dollars in extra insurance and benefit costs for workers.
Read more: http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/seiu-rally-is-about-the-future-of-rochester/article_bf9bf731-79e9-5b7f-a7f3-09c826992fdf.html
Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.
