PHILADELPHIA — Food, beverage, retail and concessions workers at Aramark, members of UNITE HERE Local 274, went on strike at the city’s sports and entertainment complex Sept. 23. The strikers work in the three arenas of Philadelphia’s professional basketball, baseball, football and hockey teams in South Philadelphia.
Union members set up pickets for four days as negotiations on a new contract continued. The local organizes 1,500 sports stadium workers here.
In July 98% of the workers rejected a company offer and voted to authorize a strike.
In an act of union solidarity, Teamsters Joint Council 53 drivers have refused to cross the picket lines to deliver beer. In a flyer to sports fans, they said it was a good time to tailgate. Other union workers have joined the pickets, including fellow Local 274 hotel workers, members of the Transport Workers Union and SMART-TD rail workers.
The union’s central demands are for “family-sustaining wage increases” to keep up with inflation, year-round work, health care coverage and one contract with uniform benefits at all three venues.
Union utility workers at the Wells Fargo Center, which houses the hockey, basketball, and lacrosse teams, as well as concerts, only get paid $14.11 an hour.
In 2023 Aramark, whose world headquarters is here, took in $18.9 billion.
In April the bosses offered a measly 25-cent-an-hour wage increase. The union responded first with a one-day strike, then a series of four-day strikes and a June rally at the Center City Aramark international headquarters. The local plans ongoing strike actions.
UNITE HERE organizes over 4,000 workers in the area, at the stadiums and in the city’s hotel, restaurant and food-service industry. The hotel workers’ contracts have expired, and negotiations are underway.