The Good Fight: The SWU Campaign in Memphis

With almost a billion and a half in profit last year, the Compass Group is not suffering these days. So why do their employees at St Francis Hospital in Memphis, TN still make minimum wage?

The Compass Group is a leader in the subcontracted industry. In Memphis, their subsidiaries Morrison’s and Crothall handle the food service and environmental service work at St. Francis. By aggressively suppressing wages (now lower than McDonald’s), the Compass Group is ‘in the money’ while its employees suffer though poverty wages. “I can’t pay my rent, this month I’m gonna be homeless,” said Gloria Thomas, a full-time employee. This tragedy is sadly not isolated. The workers who prepare and serve the food and who clean the hospital grounds and rooms we go to when we are sick are struggling to keep their heads above water. “We work hard and deserve better than this,” Thomas continues. “We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired!”
 
That’s why workers are coming together to form a Union, through Service Workers United—a joint project of SEIU and UNITE-HERE. Even though Compass has signed a Card Check Neutrality agreement with SWU, they still aren’t living up to their end of the bargain. Despite 65% of the workforce having signed Union Cards and a Petition calling for the recognition of a Union, Compass still refuses to recognize the Union as of this writing.  But that isn’t going to stop workers there from fighting.  “We’re gonna do what it takes until we get what we need,” says Rita Robinson, a housekeeper for Crothall. The workers are not going to let this billion-dollar corporation stop them from exercising their rights to come together and bargain over wages, benefits, and working conditions.