Aramark workers to strike at South Philly sports stadiums starting Monday

Hundreds of Aramark’s food and beverage employees will initiate a strike beginning Monday at all three of Philadelphia’s sports stadiums, the workers’ union Unite Here Local 274 announced Sunday night.

Cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, concessions workers, cleaners, retail workers, and warehouse employees will not show up to work Monday morning and will begin picketing outside Citizens Bank Park, the Wells Fargo Center, and Lincoln Financial Field, the union said in a statement. Because the Teamsters Union sanctioned the picket lines, unionized delivery drivers may also lawfully refuse to make deliveries to Aramark, the union said.

The final group of stadium employees approved the work stoppage earlier this month amid what the union has said is an ongoing fight for family-sustaining wage increases and stronger benefits. The union’s last contract expired in March.

The strike comes as the Phillies are set to host the Chicago Cubs beginning Monday in the team’s final week of regular season home games before the playoffs begin. The union said it is “encouraging fans to support striking workers by not patronizing Aramark and choosing to tailgate or grab dinner elsewhere ahead of the game instead.”

Wells Fargo Center is expected to host multiple concerts this week, including pop star Charli XCX, and the Flyers are set to take on the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins in two preseason games. The Eagles’ next home game is not until Oct. 13 against the Cleveland Browns.

Debbie Albert, a spokesperson for Aramark, said the company has bargained in good faith with the union for over six months, and that it will continue to do so amid the strike. The company has a contingency plan in place for the absence of workers, she said.

“In the five-week period since the union rejected our offer, they have chosen to strike without making any substantive changes to their position. They continue to engage in non-productive tactics choosing to strike again and continuing to seek a boycott of Aramark’s services,” Albert said.

While about 1,500 workers represented by Local 274 work at all three stadiums under Aramark, the union said the company counts employees’ hours worked separately, which affects their eligibility for health insurance. The union is calling on Aramark to aggregate all hours worked across the three stadiums and lower the benefit eligibility, it said in the statement.

The workers also have a separate contract at each stadium and pay varies among them. The union wants Aramark to change that by setting a single standard for benefits and wages across all stadium workers.

An organizer with the union has said that less than 100 Aramark workers with the union have year-round health care across all three stadiums. Earlier this summer, the union said Aramark offered raises of 50 cents more per hour. That proposal was rejected.

Albert, the Aramark spokesperson, said the average total income of wages and tips for the group of workers has increased by 61% in the last five years, and that the company is “proud of the wage progression.” In Aramark’s last contract offer, she said, the company agreed to two of the union’s demands: counting hours worked across the three stadiums, and removing the caps on the number of eligible participants. Anyone who works 28 hours per week per year across the locations, she said, would have access to health care, dental, vision, and short-term disability.

“Before we even talk about building a new arena, we need to make sure that stadium food service jobs are good jobs,” Tiffani Davis, an Aramark concessions worker, said in a statement. “Year round work should come with year round benefits like healthcare and family sustaining wages.”

Aramark employees at Lincoln Financial Field were the final group to authorize the strike, with 84% of employees voting yes, earlier this month. Workers at the other two venues had approved work stoppages earlier this year. Wells Fargo Center workers voted in March, and walked off the job twice the following month. Those who work at Citizens Bank Park voted to authorize a strike in late August.

In June, 45 employees were arrested during a civil disobedience protest outside the Aramark building in Center City. Dozens of workers marched outside the headquarters, pumping signs and calling for fair wages next to a giant inflatable “fat cat” smoking in cigar. Now, the cat and his familiar friend, Scabby the Rat, will join the workers in South Philadelphia.