Wouldn Sodexho Marriott make more of an impact on hunger if it paid its employees a living wage?
Good point. Given the SMS wage scale, it would be no surprise if the children of SMS workers were among the 12 million who depend on hunger programs. For instance, the Albany Student Press reported in February that “[SMS workers] are paid $6-7 an hour, and most of them work 12 hour shifts. They receive no sick or personal time. Their benefits have nearly quadrupled in cost, from $50 a month to $50 a week. Furthermore, Sodexho-Marriott workers were promised raises every six months, pending evaluation. As of now, there have been no such evaluations, and they have been told evaluations may not be conducted until January 2001 — 18 months after the food service took over.” Those kind of wages won’t get you over the poverty line, especially since most food service workers are laid off during the summer months.
