Today (20 December) from 14.30h to 15.30h (local time) employees of Gate Gourmet and representatives of the Teamsters and UNITE HERE unions are set to rally at the United Airlines terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport over pay.
Front-line Gate Gourmet workers prepare, package and deliver meals to 300 million passengers of 270 airlines each year. Gate Gourmet’s US-based workers earn, on average, $12 per hour less than the living wage for the DC metro area, and get zero paid sick days in their first year on the job.
The union said that employees rallying are asking for a real wage increase and a “fair contract” and almost 20 per cent are paid less than $10 per hour. Workers have been negotiating with the company for the past year.
They said that 7,000 Gate Gourmet employees are represented by the Teamsters Union and UNITE HERE at 20 different facilities across the US. Workers represented by the two unions are covered by the same labour agreement.
Gate Gourmet is owned by Switzerland-based Gategroup, which earned $4.6 billion in revenues in 2017.
