At the City Council on May 2, LAX workers affiliated with UNITE HERE Local 11 stood up to detail a fraying relationship with a union many said did not represent their best interests. Last month, Local 11, which represents employees of the Flying Food Group, called for a general strike. The Union is seeking more money, better health care and improved benefits from their employers.
The strike was called after negotiations reached a standstill with Flying Food Group, an airline catering company that operates at LAX. All of Flying Food Group’s profits go to the Sue Ling Gin Charitable Foundation, which was established by the Company’s founder, Sue Ling Gin, to give back to the community. Notably, the company offered the union an 8.1% wage increase and a revised, more flexible health care plan which the company has cited as superior to the union-offered health care coverage, according to company leaders. In comments, Local 11 members and FFG employees cited the union's out-of-hand rejection of these proposals as a sign that union leadership no longer represented the best interests of employees.
"We don’t want to participate in their strike because we don’t agree with what the union is doing with our rights,” FFG employee Esperanza Maciel said at the City Council meeting on May 2. Maciel went on to detail how this job helped provide for her family and how she resents the union from “keeping [her and her colleagues] from going to work.”
The strike, which began on April 10, was authorized by a vote of union member employees. However, FFG has never had to stop operations, as a sufficient number of employees have chosen to defy the strike vote and continue to work.
“My co-workers have filed complaints alleging that Flying Food Group has violated LA’s Living Wage Ordinance and is underpaying hundreds of workers,” FFG packer Glenda Miranda said in April, according to the article.
In a statement, FFG General Manager Lucy Osoro said that the company’s most-recent wage and insurance proposals “are highly competitive,” as their workers have the opportunity for “an immediate 8.1% increase in base wages” compared to prior contracts. Additionally, Osoro said FFG has “proposed a second additional wage increase effective July 1, 2023. Employees also have the option of increasing their wages by $2.50 per hour depending on the health insurance plan they select.” Their final proposal calls for a medical clinic at its facility, which “would provide free health-care services to all employees and their families.”
Despite these accommodations, UNITE HERE! Local 11 has rejected the company’s proposals, Osoro said, adding that while the company is “disappointed in UNITE HERE! Local 11’s response is to continue to negotiate with them in good faith to reach a contract."
Four FFG employees attended the May 2 City Council meeting where they expressed their opposition to the ongoing strikes and gave their testimonies in hopes that the city would intervene. Two of the four employees pointed out the company’s desire “to negotiate on many occasions,” but the union has failed to cooperate.
Pricilla Torres, a transportation department employee at FFG, said the company has “set many dates but the union does not want to accept them. Worst of all, they’re seeking benefits for the union representatives but not for all the employees.”
In a statement issued Monday, April 10, FFG said it met with Local 11’s bargaining committee and presented a competitive offer that includes “no-cost health insurance to employees, the largest wage increase we have ever offered to our employees in Los Angeles and access to an in-house medical clinic at our Los Angeles facility,” the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Employees at the City Council meeting said this offer was rejected out of hand, forcing many to choose between work and a strike they did not support.
UNITE HERE! Local 11 represents more than 30,000 hotel and food service employees throughout Southern California and Arizona. According to ABC7, the group said too many of these workers can't afford to live anywhere near their place of employment in Southern California.
FFG employs more than 350 LAX workers who prepare and transport in-flight meals to the airplanes of more than a dozen major airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Air France and Lufthansa, Aviation Source News reported.