The worldwide hospitality firm that gives meals and beverage providers on the Caesars Superdome and Smoothie King Middle started telling workers Friday that they may very well be out of a job as of July 15 if the corporate’s long-running contract with the state is just not renewed.
Sodexo Dwell! mentioned it was submitting a Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, discover on Friday notifying the state and workers of the potential layoffs, in keeping with a Sodexo spokesperson. By regulation, firms should give the state 60 days discover earlier than slicing 100 or extra jobs.
Sedexo’s present contract the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, the state company often known as the Superdome Fee that oversees the stadium and area, ends on July 14. Sodexo spokesperson Paul Pettas confirmed that the corporate and the LSED have but to agree on phrases of a brand new contract.
Whereas the official layoff warning, which was not publicly posted as of Friday morning, suggests a doable deadlock in contract talks, long-term job losses are usually not essentially going to outcome. If a brand new vendor is chosen to exchange Sodexo, it is seemingly that it’s going to provide to rehire most if not all the laid off Sodexo workers, in keeping with individuals acquainted with the trade. And if a brand new contract is finalized with Sodexo within the subsequent 60 days, the layoffs is not going to occur, in keeping with Pettas.
“There’s ongoing dialogue with the respective managers of the venues, together with LSED, to hopefully come to a long-term settlement,” mentioned Pettas. “We’re assured our provide is of probably the most profit to the town and the state.”
In an announcement, Robert Vosbein, chairperson of the Superdome Fee, instructed that officers are searching for a unique vendor.
“We imagine that the ticket-buying public deserves higher than the established order of meals service and this board will do no matter it takes to make sure that it does enhance,” Vosbein mentioned. “Whereas the method of choosing a brand new meals service supplier is within the closing levels, it isn’t full.”
“We sit up for finishing that course of quickly. We’re absolutely dedicated to the followers on this endeavor,” he added.
It’s not clear how the fee, a public physique, is concerned in choosing a brand new meals service supplier exterior of a public choice course of. ASM International, a non-public contractor, manages the Superdome and different venues for the fee. A spokesperson for the fee mentioned it didn’t difficulty a request for proposals.
Upcoming Superdome and Smoothie King Middle occasions
Sodexo is a $1 billion firm that operates in dozens of nations. It employs greater than 1,000 staff in New Orleans — not solely at Caesars Superdome and the Smoothie King Middle, however on the Ernest N. Morial Conference Middle and the Nationwide World Struggle II Museum.
In 2023, the union representing Sodexo staff on the Superdome, area and Conference Middle reached a brand new settlement with the corporate that raised pay and advantages. The Sodexo WARN doesn’t apply to workers on the Conference Middle or museum.
Additionally unclear is whether or not a brand new meals and beverage supplier, if one is chosen, will likely be in place by a number of high-profile occasions in July, together with the UFC 318, a blended martial arts showcase, and the U.S. Gymnastics Championship, each of which will likely be held on the Smoothie King Middle.
Pettas mentioned Thursday he hopes Sodexo will in a position to retain its contract.
“We’re embedded in Louisiana and we’re assured that no matter different supplier is on the market, we’re the most effective,” he mentioned. “We hope we will proceed to remain.”
This can be a creating story. Examine again for extra particulars.
