Labor News & Commentary September 27, 2024 Apple retail workers in Oklahoma City ratify a contract & more

https://onlabor.org/september-27-2024/

By Esther Ritchin

Esther Ritchin is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s news and commentary, workers at Philadelphia sports arenas go on strike, workers at Hawaii’s largest hotel join hotel workers across the country on strike, and Apple retail workers in Oklahoma City ratify a contract.

Workers at three South Philadelphia sports arenas–Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field and Wells Fargo Center–went on strike this week. The workers, represented by Unite Here Local 247, include concession stand workers as well as bartenders, janitors, dishwashers, warehouse workers, and others. The workers at all three stadiums are employed by Aramak, and many of them work at two or three of the stadiums, but each stadium counts as a separate job–meaning that many workers are working forty or more hours a week, but are still counted as part-time workers, ineligible for benefits such as health and dental insurance. Aramark claims it had negotiated in good faith and its latest offer to the union would aggregate hours across stadiums. Workers also object to the different stadiums having different pay, despite the single employer. Workers on strike are encouraging fans coming to the stadiums to avoid patronizing the concession stands, and instead eat food beforehand or, where permissible, bring their own.

Workers at Hilton Hawaii Village have gone on strike, joining thousands of other hotel workers striking across the country. Hilton Hawaii Village is Hawaii’s largest hotel and the largest Hilton in the world. The workers are calling for higher wages, fairer workloads, and the end to COVID-era policies like less frequent room cleaning. Many workers have adopted the slogan “one job should be enough,” reflecting how many workers need multiple jobs to meet the high cost of living.

Workers at an Apple store in Oklahoma City, represented by Apple Retail Union-CWA Local 6016, voted to ratify their contract early this week, making them the second union of Apple store workers to do so. 96% of workers in the union voted in favor of ratifying the contract. According to the Communication Workers of America, the contract includes increased wages, worker involvement in scheduling, grievance processes, job protection, and more.