Phipps Conservatory's cafe, catering workers fear for their jobs amid vendor switch

Meredith Raubaugh doesn’t know what she’ll do for work after her gig as a catering server and cafe cashier at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens ends next week.

She and about 30 others who work in the the Pittsburgh conservatory’s cafe and catering departments are expected to lose their jobs Sunday as Phipps ends its existing contract with Sodexo Live!, the vendor that employs them.

“I was depending on Phipps and Sodexo as a place to work,” Raughbaugh told TribLive Wednesday.

Raughbaugh, 22, graduated last semester from the University of Pittsburgh and is living in Oakland, within walking distance of Phipps. She’s worked at the conservatory since the start of last summer, and she loves her job.

“Phipps is a very convenient place to work,” she said. “I know how to do everything in terms of the catering services and the cafe.”

But workers were recently informed Phipps is no longer using Sodexo Live! to staff its cafe and catering operations. Workers told TribLive they’ve so far been given no opportunity to opt to stay in their existing roles under a new company.

Raughbaugh said she’s still hoping that opportunity may arise.

Phipps Conservatory spokesman Joe Reed confirmed to TribLive that Sodexo Live!’s contract ends Jan. 12.

“Following a fiscal year in which the Cafe had an operating deficit of nearly $400,000, Phipps is evaluating new models for the Cafe,” Reed said in a written statement. “The Cafe’s offerings and workforce will be determined by that model, which will coincide with the selection of a Cafe operator.”

Cafe Phipps is temporarily closed.

Sodexo Live!, an international company headquartered in France that received backlash for the food it offered athletes during the 2024 Paris Olympics, did not respond to requests for comment.

City Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, who sits on Phipps Conservatory’s board, said he help to try and support impacted employees.

He’s been working with SEIU 32BJ, a union that has sought to represent the affected workers, to support the employees who are losing their jobs.

Charland said he was disappointed in Phipps’ handling of the situation.

“It’s unacceptable for a world-class organization like Phipps — that really does pride itself on regenerative thinking — that they would allow a new vendor to take away the livelihoods of workers that have worked for Phipps for so long,” Charland told TribLive. “We’ll be doing everything in our power to make sure those workers are taken care of.”

Charland acknowledged the switch-up in vendors seemed to be spurred by the losses the cafe tallied in the last year.

“It was the largest generator of loss on Phipps’ budget sheet,” he said.

Pete Schmidt, SEIU 32BJ’s Western Pennsylvania district leader, said the union has been trying since November 2023 to institute union representation for cafe and catering employees.

The effort seemed to fizzle out but was recently reignited, with over half of the impacted workers expressing interest in unionizing, he said. Workers joined labor leaders and elected officials twice over the last few months to call on Phipps and Sodexo Live! to back their unionizing efforts.

“Sodexo was not willing to work with us at all,” Schmidt said.

If the workers had union representation, Schmidt said, he believes there would’ve been a better effort to retain them and allow them to work for whatever entity may take the helm of the cafe and catering operations.

Right now, he said, workers haven’t been offered any opportunities to stay on board.

“They’re basically left in the dark,” he said.

Jason McCray, 30, of Pittsburgh’s Lincoln Place neighborhood said the lack of communication and transparency has been particularly frustrating.

Workers weren’t given much notice to prepare or start looking for other jobs, he said. McCray found out he was losing his job as a barista at Cafe Phipps during the week between Christmas and the start of the new year.

McCray said he and his coworkers had been hoping they could unionize to protect against such a situation, as rumors that their jobs could be on the chopping block cropped up months ago.

Though the union said it will continue supporting impacted workers and lobbying for them to keep their jobs, the workers are not formally unionized.

McCray said he’s had problems during the six months he’s worked at Phipps. He was initially under the impression he’d work 32 to 35 hours per week, but he sometimes was scheduled for only 12 hours a week.

He said he was “barely working, barely able to cover my half of the bills.”

McCray said he voiced concerns to management about the scheduling inconsistencies. He was offered a chance to work in catering for additional shifts, but said those hours didn’t align with his availability.

Despite the challenges, McCray said, he’s disappointed about losing the job.

“It was a bitter goodbye,” he said. “I loved working there.”