Workers who provide food and beverages for American, Delta and United Airlines flights demand a living wage and health care they can afford

NATIONWIDE—Workers who prepare, pack and deliver food and beverages served aboard flights for American, Delta, United and other airlines have voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike when released by the National Mediation Board. It was the largest such vote ever to occur in the U.S. airline catering industry, with more than 11,000 workers voting in 28 cities.

The workers are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, UNITE HERE, and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) unions, and are employed by the two largest airline catering subcontractors in the world: LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet.  The three unions collectively represent more than 25,000 airline catering workers.

“In the past two weeks, airline catering workers voted overwhelmingly yes to authorize a strike, a result that points both to the crisis of poverty wages and unaffordable healthcare in the airline catering industry, and to workers’ willingness to do whatever it takes within legal means to make a change,” said UNITE HERE International President D. Taylor, “Catering workers refuse to sit back and watch airlines like American, Delta and United earn billions in profits while workers barely scrape by. Now is the time for one job to be enough in the airline catering industry.”

Later this summer, UNITE HERE will request release to strike from the National Mediation Board, which would be followed by a 30-day cooling off period if granted. UNITE HERE is prepared to strike whenever it becomes lawful.

“In 2018, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines made a combined $7.4 billion in profit,” said International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “The world’s airlines can afford to pay vendors enough so that employees earn a fair return on their work. Airline CEOs are being paid $15 million a year while Gate Gourmet employees are paid as little as $8.46 per hour. We want airline passengers to understand that our members don’t want to have to strike, but they’re ready to do so.”

“For far too long workers in the airline catering industry have struggled to get by while American, Delta and United airlines have earned billions. The vote to authorize a strike by hard-working people who are members of three different unions, including our own, shows our united strength and solidarity in this fight. Together, we are sending a clear message to the airline industry that our members need to earn a living wage in order to continue living and working in the major cities our airports serve,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

The strike authorization vote followed a breakdown in bargaining for a new contract.  Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet pay their employees poverty wages — most are paid less than $15 an hour, some after more than 40 years on the job. Many go without health insurance because they cannot afford the $500 monthly premiums to enroll in family healthcare plans.

In their first public action post-vote, many workers joined informational picket lines at airports across the country during the week of June 17.

For a list of participating cities and vote information, visit AirportStrikeAlert.org.

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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU. 

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. This includes 80,000 workers in the airline industry, including pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, customer service and ramp agents, dispatchers and caterers. Visit www.teamster.org for more information.

UNITE HERE is a union of over 300,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in the U.S. and Canada. This includes over 20,000 workers in the airline catering industry who are employees of Flying Food Group, Gate Gourmet, LSG Sky Chefs, and United Airlines. Learn more at www.unitehere.org