Gate Gourmet truck drivers perform physically strenuous jobs on airport tarmacs; some trucks lack working air conditioning

ELIZABETH, NJ—Airline catering workers who drive trucks for airline subcontractor Gate Gourmet at EWR Airport gathered with their union UNITE HERE Local 100, bill sponsor Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Union), members of Make the Road New Jersey, a representative from the office of Senator Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who introduced the bill, and other allies for a press conference in support of the New Jersey Heat Standard A-3521/S-2422.

Drivers for Gate Gourmet transport and unload catering carts for United Airlines and other airlines operating out of EWR Airport. This is a physically strenuous job that also exposes workers to hot temperatures, especially during the summer months, and workers report that air conditioning units to not work in the cabins of all trucks. Working while exposed to high temperatures can put workers at greater risk of heat illness, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. A-3521/S-2422 will require New Jersey employers to create heat-illness and injury-prevention plans for work in extreme heat conditions.

“I spend a large part of my workday driving a truck, and the heat in the cabin can be a real struggle, especially during the summer,” said Luis Ferrer, a driver at Gate Gourmet and members of UNITE HERE Local 100 who caters aircraft out of EWR. “It has gotten so hot that I have felt dizzy and light-headed. I drive trucks right on the tarmac, and I share that space with aircraft and other vehicles. I worry about what will happen if I pass out one day while I am driving. The New Jersey Heat Standard would protect workers like me, and help keep everyone on the tarmac safe.”

“The trucks that we drive every day do not always have working air conditioning units, which can be very uncomfortable,” said Alveiro Arango, a UNITE HERE Local 100 member who has worked for Gate Gourmet nearly three years and has over 21 years of experience driving airline catering trucks for United Airlines. “On top of the extreme weather we’ve been experiencing recently, exhaust from airline engines only increases the heat when we are out working. We can’t afford to be impaired because we don’t feel well because it’s too hot—there is no margin for error on the tarmac.”

Additionally, employer health care premiums at Gate Gourmet are high, and many workers are not able to pay for the insurance. After six years of bargaining for a new union contract that would provide better wages and good, affordable health care, workers at Gate Gourmet locations nationwide—including over 1,000 workers at EWR—could strike as soon as July 30 if they are released by the National Mediation Board.

“My coworkers and I deserve protections from the heat, and we also deserve to know that we’ll be able to afford treatment if we were to become sick with a heat-related illness on the job,” said Ishan Rumph, a driver for Gate Gourmet at EWR Airport and member of UNITE HERE Local 100. “I’m standing up with my coworkers to demand a new union contract that gives us the good, affordable health care we deserve, and I’m ready to strike on July 30th if we have the opportunity to do so. As a resident of New Jersey, I’m also standing up to support the NJ Heat Standard Bill. Workers like me across the state of NJ must have basic protections from the effects of extreme heat while we are at work.”

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UNITE HERE Local 100 is the union for food service and restaurant workers in the New York/New Jersey area, including 1,300 Gate Gourmet workers in New Jersey.

There are 8,000 union Gate Gourmet workers in the U.S. represented by UNITE HERE, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM), and the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).