Marquette food service employees will receive pay raises of at least 25 cents per hour and save $75 a year on health insurance, according to their new contract with Sodexho USA.

The raises will be retroactive to July 1, according to a copy of the contract that was presented to employees last week and ratified last Tuesday by a 44-4 vote.

Utility workers — the lowest paid food service employees — will now make a base salary of $9.77 per hour, according to the contract.

The contract, which was also distributed to union employees, also includes raises of 30 cents per hour in 2006, and 40 cents per hour in 2007 and 2008.

Sodexho and the Service Employees International Union Local 1 reached the agreement after negotiating in federal mediation for 18 hours on Oct. 10, according to Local 1 staff member John-david Morgan.

Morgan said the health insurance savings were the most important point in the new contract for food service workers.

The new contract cuts $6.30 per month in administrative fees from employees' contributions to their health insurance plan, amounting to $75.60 in savings per year, equivalent to about one month's contribution, Morgan said.

"We effectively negotiated a free month of health insurance" for employees, Morgan said.

The new contract also adds Independence Day as a holiday, as well as an additional floating holiday and funeral day for employees, he said.

Earlier in the negotiating process, Morgan cited a possible limit on the number of sick days that employees can carry over from year to year as a concern, but the contract did not include such a limit.

Morgan said earlier that Local 1 was concerned employees would be required to use their vacation time during summer.

While employees "will be encouraged" to take their vacation time during summer, the contract states, requests to do so at other times may be submitted to the general manager and "will not be unreasonably denied."

Jerry Dohr, general manager for Sodexho at Marquette, said he was pleased to have an agreement in place.

"We're glad that the process was able to come to a conclusion and that we're able to get back to the real issue here, which is serving our customers," Dohr said.

"I'm very excited by that, and I think all of our employees here are excited by that as well," he said.

Dohr said employees have "a lot to be proud of in what they've accomplished through these negotiations."

Local 1 Vice President Dan Iverson said the union was happy with the new agreement.

"We got the fair and decent contract that our workers deserve," Iverson said.

Morgan said the support of Marquette's Jesuit University Students Together in Concerned Empowerment or JUSTICE, gave a big boost to the food service employees during the process.

"Our members were just overwhelmed, really, to see the students out there supporting them," he said.

JUSTICE members rallied at the negotiating site on the day the tentative agreement was reached with signs supporting the employees, Morgan said.

Iverson agreed JUSTICE's involvement made a difference to employees.

"We appreciate the support of the students, and I know our workers do too," he said.

Tyrone Thorton, a Marquette food service employee for six years, said he is happy with the new contract.

"It's good," he said. "Our benefits are all still there, every one of them."

The new contract is valid until July 1, 2009, Morgan said.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 25, 2005.