Mayo follows a familiar script in outsourcing food service jobs [View all]

Michelle Durigan stumbled into a part-time job in Mayo Clinic's food service department while she still was attending Lourdes High School. Thirty-seven years later, the 54-year-old Rochester woman feels she's got "the best job in this hospital."

For now, anyway.

Durigan's future is murky because of Mayo's plan, announced June 30, to subcontract its food service department. The pending switch from Sodexo to Morrison Healthcare will transition about 700 local workers in southern Minnesota from Mayo's payroll and self-described "exceptional benefits" plan to Morrison's "poverty wages" and lesser benefits, according to Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota, which represents 350 Rochester workers affected by Mayo's decision.

On July 1, Durigan said Mayo's food service department was filled with "outbursts of crying and cussing, big disappointment and shock." Those emotions linger nearly two months later among workers who have more than 5,000 combined years committed to Mayo's workforce.

Read more: http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/mayo-follows-a-familiar-script-in-outsourcing-food-service-jobs/article_88c2f7f0-95dd-5485-ade1-4258352634f0.html