Call Aramark today!

Students and comunity members demand accountability and human rights: Aramark call-in days Nov 23 & 24!

November 23, 2009 - It's time to demand accountability and amplify our demand for human rights and fair wages in Aramark's supply chain. Call Aramark headquarters today!

Here's all the info you need — plus a sample script — to make your call to Aramark today. Click here for some vital background information on this action.

• Call Aramark corporate today at one of the following numbers:
• 215-238-7795 (Associate VP of Corporate Responsibility Robert Dennill; leave a voicemail here)
  Email: Dennill-Robert@aramark.com
• 215-413-8529 (Bruce Alperin, Senior Director of Marketing, Facility Services, Aramark Higher Education)
• 215-409-7320 (Nicole Handy, Human Resource Representative, ARAMARK Higher Education)
• 215-238-3000 (general number)
• 1-800-ARAMARK (general number)

If no one will come to the phone, leave a voicemail. If someone does answer, be firm yet polite and try your best to leave a message with a real live person. Leave a voicemail if all else fails. Here are some main points to express:

• "Hi, my name is X, (I'm a member of SFA, I'm a member of X organization), I go to school at X (mention if your food service provider is Aramark), and I'm calling in support of the Dine with Dignity campaign and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers."

• "I'm concerned that students at several campuses have been unable to meet with their local Aramark representatives despite making several requests to simply sit down and talk about the issue of human rights in Aramark's tomato supply chain. We're simply asking for some accountability and responsibility from Aramark. Will students be allowed to hold these meetings?"

• If Aramark says that they are currently in dialogue with the CIW, let them know that you're glad that is happening and that you hope and expect those discussions will result in a real agreement and partnership with the CIW soon, and until that actually happens, the campaign and your involvement and the vigilance of students and others around the country will continue, and that, regardless, students should still have the right to approach and meet with local Aramark representatives when they have an important issue to discuss.

• "Compass Group -- one of your main competitors -- has already come to the table and signed an agreement with the CIW. I hope that Aramark does the same soon. Until that point I'll continue to be involved and raise awareness on my campus/in my community and encourage people to take action around this campaign."
  • (Note: This past September, Compass Group -- the world's largest food service provider -- reached agreement with the CIW and a major Florida tomato grower to implement a penny-per-pound pay increase for tomato harvesters and a stringent code of conduct for its tomato purchases from Florida. This breakthrough signaled, in the words of US Senator Bernie Sanders, "the beginning of the end of the harvest of shame that has existed for far too long in Florida's tomato fields.")

Background: Since last spring, the Student/Farmworker Alliance -- in partnership with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers -- has led the national "Dine With Dignity" campaign calling on major food service provider corporations to work with the CIW to improve the wages and working conditions of farmworkers in their tomato supply chains.

As students -- whose tuition and meal plan dollars fatten the profits of corporations like Aramark -- we have the right and responsibility to know where the food served on our campuses comes from, under what conditions it was produced, and to demand accountability from our schools and the corporations they contract with. As part of "Dine With Dignity," SFA members and other CIW allies on campuses and in communities across the country have taken action, held educational events, written editorials, collected petitions, passed resolutions, and held meetings with their Dining directors and local Aramark representatives to express their concerns and their demand that Aramark address the human rights crisis in Florida's fields.

Local Aramark representatives on several campuses, however, refuse to even hold meetings with concerned students to talk about the issue of human rights and fair wages for farmworkers in Aramark's supply chain. These include the University of Houston, the University of Florida, the University of Texas-Austin, and Florida Gulf Coast University.

It's time to let Aramark know that this is unacceptable. It's time to demand accountability and human rights today!