As negotiations continue between Sodexho Food Services and the Service Employees International Union's Local 1 branch over a new contract for food service workers, Marquette JUSTICE member Dorota Pruski said she wants to make it clear that her organization is on one only side: the workers'.

"We're not necessarily with the union and we're not on the Sodexho side," said the College of Arts & Sciences junior, who is spearheading the Jesuit University Students Together in Concerned Empowerment's involvement in the issue. "The bottom line is we want to support the food service workers."

Members of JUSTICE were present outside McCormick and Schroeder halls Wednesday afternoon for what Pruski called "informational picketing" to help educate students on the issue.

However, JUSTICE was reluctant to distribute informational sheets provided by Local 1 containing information that was "very contradictory to what we're hearing from the other side," Pruski said.

Sodexho provides food services for all residence dining halls, the Alumni Memorial Union's Marquette Place and catering on campus, according to Marquette's Web site.

Pruski said standing behind the workers while working with two sides that "are not on the same page" is a challenge for JUSTICE.

JUSTICE was contacted about the issue about a week ago by Peace Action Wisconsin, a group which occasionally works with Local 1, according to Pruski.

She said she met with Local 1 staff member John-david Morgan on Tuesday and with Jerry Dohr, Sodexho general manager for Marquette, on Wednesday.

Pruski said Sodexho and Local 1 seem to have "a completely different interpretation of the negotiation process."

On the Sodexho side, Dohr said the two parties are in mediation and negotiations have not broken down, despite rumors that they have.

Dohr said he preferred to withhold further comment until more progress is made in negotiations.

"We value our employees," Dohr said. "Right now we're just in the middle of things."

Speaking for Local 1, Morgan said Sodexho has "made proposals that aren't possible for us to accept."

Sick days, holidays, floating vacation time and a new employee classification system are among the issues on the table, according to Morgan.

He said further negotiations are scheduled for Monday.

Pruski said it was "frustrating not to have an agreed-upon set of facts" on the status of negotiations.

"I felt like I was hearing two very different stories," she said. "There's a lot of back and forth going on."

Pruski said JUSTICE is striving to take a balanced stance on the issue.

"We don't take one side without looking at the other," she said.

Pruski stressed JUSTICE was involved for the sake of the food service workers, not to get caught up in the conflict between Sodexho and Local 1.

She said JUSTICE wants to see the workers come away with livable wages and benefits, especially given the high cost of housing in Milwaukee.

"Workers deserve sick days. They deserve holidays. They deserve a health insurance package that's going to be affordable for themselves and their families," she said.

Pruski said both sides are working for the same goal, despite their differences.

"I don't doubt that both sides have a genuine interest in coming to terms on a good contract for the workers," she said.

Pruski also said JUSTICE wants the workers to know the negotiation process "is not something happening behind closed doors."

"We care and we're watching," she said. "We are prepared to act on their behalf."

"They are a part of the Marquette community," she said. "In the end, I want to see this be an issue that brings about respect and justice to these workers."

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 6, 2005.