Hundreds of workers are expected to strike outside the South Philadelphia Sports Complex on Monday.
UNITE HERE Philly Local 274, the union representing food service workers in Philadelphia, announced Sunday night that cooks, servers, bartenders, dishwashers, concession workers, cleaners and retail workers employed by Aramark will join a strike on Monday, September 23, 2024 outside Citizens Bank Park, Wells Fargo Center and Lincoln Financial Field.
Aramark, headquartered in Philadelphia, provides food and beverage services at all three stadiums.
Organizers said the picket lines were expected to begin before dawn and grow throughout the day.
Food service workers voted to authorize the strike as part of their ongoing campaign to get higher wages and health care benefits, according to the union.
“Building on past victories that transformed Aramark jobs at the South Philadelphia Stadium Complex from seasonal to year-round, the union is now fighting to make these jobs equal to other year-round jobs, with health care benefits and a family-sustaining wage that keeps up with inflation,” union officials wrote. “Currently, the company counts the hours worked in each building separately, even though employees are doing the same job for the same employer, leaving many employees without health care benefits. The union is demanding that Aramark tally up all hours worked across the entire Stadium Complex to determine employees’ health care eligibility and lower the eligibility standards.”
NBC10 has reached out to Aramark for comment and will post a statement once we receive a response.