Carrying Coffins, Sea-Tac Airline Catering Employees Demand Better Wages on Eve of Busy Travel Day

Nov. 27, 2019

In concert with thousands of picketing airline kitchen workers around the country, more than 100 airline catering workers organized a funeral procession — complete with coffins — to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Tuesday night, where they called for higher wages.

The protestors asked Sea-Tac’s two largest carriers, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines, to demand kitchen workers’ pay be raised to a level at least commensurate with the roughly $16/hour minimum other airport employees earn. The airlines contract with the protesting workers’ employers, LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet, to cater in-flight meals.

The airport’s catering workers are not covered by the city of SeaTac’s minimum wage, an inflation-adjusted $15/hour. More than half of catering workers serving airlines at Sea-Tac make less than the minimum, according to their union, Unite Here Local 8.

An estimated 150 people joined the protest outside the arrivals terminal, said Stefan Moritz, the secretary of Unite Here Local 8. They were accompanied by three coffins and a brass band playing funeral marches.

“This is a life or death issue,” Mortiz said. “Workers are struggling to make the most basic ends meet. Workers are tired and stressed. Workers are constantly working overtime.”

The timing of the protest, on the eve of what is historically one of the nation’s busiest travel days, implied a threat to airline operations if the kitchen workers were to strike.

Members of the airline kitchen workers’ local voted “overwhelmingly” this summer to strike as soon as they’re released to do so by the National Mediation Board, which oversees strikes among airport and railway workers — sectors where a labor stoppage could pose security risks.

record-breaking number of travelers are expected to pass through airports this year around the Thanksgiving holiday.

In a statement, the Port of Seattle, which oversees the airport, sided with the airline kitchen workers. It called on airlines and flight kitchen companies to “make fixing this wage inequity a top priority.”

“Every worker deserves a living wage and benefits that allow them to support themselves and their families with dignity,” the statement read.

In testimony before the Port Commission in February, longtime LSG Sky Chefs employee Niño Cueto described working overtime in order to afford health care for himself and his wife.

“I worry all the time what will happen to my wife if she gets sick and needs to go to the doctor,” he said.

A Delta spokeswoman said the airline partners with multiple vendors and doesn’t expect disruptions to its catering operations.

“These employees do not work for Delta,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “Questions concerning their employment should be directed to the vendors.”

Alaska Airlines said in a statement that it is “fully prepared” to implement a new collective-bargaining agreement once LSG and its employees conclude negotiations.

Seattle Times staff reporter Asia Fields contributed to this post.

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