Food service giant Sodexo, with 391,000 employees worldwide—including some 18,000 in the United States—and International Union of Food Workers (IUF), have signed an agreement confirming Sodexo’s commitment to respect fundamental rights at work, namely freedom of association and collective bargaining. The IUF includes 336 unions with 12 million members in 120 countries.
 
Known as an “international framework agreement (IFA),” it provides for a continual and progressive dialogue between Sodexo management, Sodexo employee representatives and the IUF. It is the first of its kind in the industry and IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald says:
This agreement provides a concrete tool to help ensure that Sodexo workers across the world have access to their fundamental rights.