DETROIT Two service employees’ unions are calling for the board and administration of Detroit’s public school system to investigate Aramark for failing to deliver an allegedly promised $25 million in revenue from a five-year foodservice management contract.
The unions, UNITE HERE and the Service Employees International Union, claim that Aramark brought in only $1.4 million in revenues during the life of the contract, which began in 2001. The school district renewed Aramark’s contract in 2006.
According to Aramark spokeswoman Christine Grow, the unions are targeting Aramark and other foodservice contractors as part of a campaign to organize more workers across the industry.
No $25 million pledge was made by Aramark in its contract with Detroit Public Schools, she said.
“The $25 million figure came from a five-year projection, and did not anticipate that enrollment would drop by a staggering 40,000 students since 2000,” Aramark said in a statement.
Grow cited school district statistics showing that foodservice returned about $9.7 million in revenues and made a profit of $4.5 million over the five years. Before the district hired Aramark, its foodservice programs ran a deficit of more than $5 million a year, she said.
UNITE HERE, a union representing hotel and restaurant workers, raised similar issues last fall about Aramark’s performance within the Philadelphia School District and called for an independent audit of that contract. The district terminated its contract with Aramark and brought its foodservice program in-house. Reasons for the change were not disclosed.
