Unite Here’s strike at LAX concession businesses may violate labor peace agreements intended to encourage good faith negotiations between parties. Despite a proposal for increased employee wages and pensions from travel hospitality group Areas USA, union leadership voted to strike the day after those terms were offered, prompting increased scrutiny of Unite Here’s tactics.
“The good-faith proposal offered fair and competitive compensation to associates,” representing a major development in ongoing negotiation efforts to restore labor peace and agree on a new CBA for more than 400 Areas associates, according to a press release from the company.
“The proposal included wage increases retroactive to July 1, 2022, when the previous labor agreement expired, and interim wage increases while negotiations continue for a new CBA,” Areas USA said. The company also presented a separate offer, including higher wages, improved health benefits, legal support, training, and pension contributions for the upcoming labor agreement. These proposals, made in good faith, addressed the union’s wage and pension requirements, prioritized employees’ interests, and recognized their significant contributions to the LAX business.
Areas USA operates concession businesses at LAX, the company reports. Prices for retail goods are capped by the airport, limiting Areas’ financial ability to meet Union demands.
Areas USA is a global leader in travel, dining and retail. With over 1,900 restaurants and points of sale in 10 countries across the world, the company holds a guest-centric approach that prioritizes traveler comfort in airports, railway stations and highway service plazas, as well as choice leisure locations, according to its website.
This is not the first instance Local 11 has failed to negotiate in good faith. In a Sept. 7 op-ed in Los Angeles Daily News, when Local 11 was on strike, Lynn S. Mohrfeld, president and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association, criticized Local 11: “Hotel employees are frustrated with the lack of progress at the bargaining table and with Unite Here’s dedication to perpetuating the ‘hot labor summer’ rather than prioritizing negotiations,” Mohrfeld wrote.
“That’s why so many hotel employees have crossed picket lines and resigned their union membership even with the union’s aggressive efforts to intimidate them,” she said. “Hotel employees know the truth – that Local 11 has walked away from discussions and has not responded to inquiries about future talks.” Mohrfeld continued, “Local 11, however, seems hellbent on strikes with a focus on their political agenda rather than the employees they are paid to represent.”
At LAX, Areas representatives report the company was surprised by the strike, indicating they felt the Union and Management had been close to a deal just the day before. Airport representatives are currently investigating whether the late strike, without consideration of the Areas wage proposal, violates long-standing labor peace agreements agreed to by Unite Here.
