Western Washington U. Cuts Ties With Sodexo, Its Longtime Dining Vendor

Western Washington University is ending its 50-year relationship with the dining vendor Sodexo, reports The Bellingham Herald. Another outsourcing giant, Aramark, will be the university’s dining vendor starting in September. The decision to switch from Sodexo to Aramark was based entirely on bids submitted by the competing vendors, according to a university news release. But the move followed expressions of concern about Sodexo’s human-rights record, the newspaper reported. Student activists at the University of Washington have mounted a seven-month campaign to demand that the university sever its ties with Sodexo over allegations that the company mistreats its workers abroad. The new 10-year contract at Western Washington includes stipulations allowing current, nonmanagement dining-hall employees to stay on for a six-month probationary period.

Correction (5/19): This post originally stated incorrectly that Western Washington University switched vendors after a seven-month protest by student activists over Sodexo’s alleged mistreatment of workers. That protest was at the University of Washington, not Western Washington. The post has been changed to reflect that correction.