By Daniel Rivera, Reporter
On Aug. 25 during the late afternoon at the Long Beach Airport, hospitality workers with UniteHere Local 11 along with many other advocacy groups held a protest to push for a new contract for the airport food service workers.
Their demands include increasing their wages, more money for food, and better benefits because many of those who work at the airport either can’t live in Long Beach or are barely keeping their heads above water. Paradies Lagardère Travel Retail is the company that stores at the Long Beach Airport and was unable to provide any comment at the time, as they are closed on the weekends.
“$2,400 is 60-70% of my income, that’s the reality for a lot of people, so how does that leave room for a car, insurance, food, and every other thing that can ever happen, healthcare,” lamented a server named Samuel Narvaez when describing his current situation.
Narvaez works 36 hours per week. He lives with his girlfriend and hasn’t been able to return to his school since COVID-era restrictions have been lifted. He says he feels trapped and that his work is the primary cause of it.
For many of the workers, the pay simply isn’t enough on its own, and many of the airport workers live with family or roommates.
About 30 protestors showed up forming a picketing line, some of the groups protesting with the UniteHere workers were the Long Beach Teachers Association or TALB, California Faculty Association or CFA, the Grey Panthers, and a few others in small numbers.
TALB and the CFA had won their own labor strike a few months back after a dragged-out series of negotiations back in March.
The workers have been unionized for a few years now, reportedly since 2015, but haven’t been organizing in large numbers until recently with their first protest seeing about 15 people.
“Let me write you, let me get you on here, no warnings, just write-ups,” Lupe Filorio, one of the cooks for the airport, said when describing the treatment by management. A common stance amongst the workers is that they are being watched, and often face harsh punishments for small infractures. Along with abusive management, there is a lack of safety in kitchens, the heat the cook gets, and the lack of airflow in those spaces.
Filorio explained that the ones who are most vulnerable are the new hires, who are often unaware of the rules and become targets of management for corrective action and termination.
“We used to get $14 and a 20% discount at the airport for food, it’s expensive and they are raising the prices,” Ashlyn Hourth, a barista, told Random Lengths News when describing the ways they are paid.
“We represent the workers at the Long Beach Airport, they’re fighting for increased wages. … And we picked $25 because it is considered a standard across the union,” said union representative Arun Ramarkyshna, who helped start that day’s protest.
UniteHere11 has led numerous protests of hospitality workers around the country; and led strikes against some of the hotels in the LA county area and nationwide. Unions have had mixed success, with victories like the Teamsters, who got a deal right as their old one ended, while the Writers Guild has been on an ongoing strike that crossed its 100th day a few weeks ago.
When asked about the potential of a strike, many of the workers were nervous saying that they did not want that.
“I hope not,” said Gloria Hernandez, who has been a cashier at the airport for about a year and a half.