Starting January 1, 2014, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be in effect—and Sodexo, Keene State College’s Dining Service provider—has started to make changes in employee health care access.
The Equinox stated that 16 workers will lose their eligibility to qualify for health care because of these changes. Currently, Sodexo employs 170 workers at KSC. Forty-six will switch from a full-time position to a part-time position, leaving 16 workers without health care coverage that they currently choose to have.
Although the college does not employ the workers directly, we believe administration should examine this issue further. The passing of Gordon (Gordi) Davis, beloved Sodexo employee, has proved that these workers are very important to the college campus. We care about the workers and we care about their rights, regardless of who employs them.
Brittany Murphy / Opinions Editor
We understand that Sodexo is also making these changes with other colleges, such as the University of Vermont, where administration is taking the time to examine the contract between their university and Sodexo. We encourage any school to follow suit, especially Keene State College.
We believe that KSC needs to further examine what the contract entails between Sodexo and the college.
After all, we want to support the workers employed by Sodexo, considering that some employees are KSC students. The Equinox believes KSC administration should look into any changes like this that are being made in the future as well. Whether or not these workers are directly employed by the college or an outside company, they deserve to be treated fairly.
We believe it is important to notify the KSC community of these changes, just as it is important to address the effect these changes will have on community members.
