Food service workers – many of them with decades of experience – are calling on Mayo Clinic to explain its decision to subcontract their jobs. They question whether a Mayo executive had a conflict of interest in the selection process and say the outsourcing could diminish the quality of service to patients.
On Monday, a group of Mayo employees delivered a petition with more than 1,200 signatures to the human resources office in the Ozmun Building on the clinic’s downtown Rochester campus. The petition calls on Mayo “to reconsider their decision to outsource food service workers.”
More actions are planned: On Aug. 24, workers and community supporters will hold an informational picket and rally in front of the St. Marys campus of the Mayo Clinic Hospital. Meanwhile, hundreds of workers throughout the Mayo system have been wearing “No Subcontracting” buttons at work.
On June 30, workers were shocked by the company’s announcement that it planned to subcontract 700 food service jobs to Morrison Healthcare, a multinational corporation based in Atlanta. In announcing the change, Mayo said it “will allow us to deliver consistent and enhanced food and nutrition options to our patients, visitors and staff.”
Since then, workers have raised several questions about the decision and have repeatedly requested more information. Last week, their union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, saying the company has refused to provide information “it is legally obligated to share when there are changes to a contract.”
The union also raised concerns about a possible conflict of interest involving Carol Gorman, the administrator in charge of the food service department when the decision was made to contract out to Morrison. Gorman, the union said, “has a conflict of interest due to a long standing personal relationship with a Morrison executive.”
"It is unacceptable that Mayo continues to deny basic information workers and their union need to know about this decision," said SEIU Healthcare Minnesota President Jamie Gulley. "This information is especially important as now it seems the decision may have been made under the cloud of dubious ethics. Workers, and the whole community, deserve to know what really went on to bring Mayo to the point where they decided to take 700 dedicated employees and move them out of the Mayo family."
These actions come as Mayo is raising private investment that will enable it to tap $585 million in state and local government funds to become a “destination medical center.” The public funds were awarded, in part, on the pledge that Mayo would bring good jobs to the Rochester area.
The workers have a combined 5,000+ years of experience in food service at Mayo, with many bringing decades of food safety expertise to their jobs, SEIU said. “This longevity, which most doubt would be possible if the lower pay and worse health benefits of a subcontractor were brought into the hospital, helps to ensure the health and safety of patients across the Mayo system.”