UNITE HERE local 11 represents hospitality workers in five major airports in Southern California and Arizona. We represent servers, baristas, cooks, bartenders and other concession and retail workers at LAX, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, John Wayne Airport, Long Beach Airport,  and the Ontario Airport.

Our members work for HMS Host, SSP,  Hudson News, Areas, Paradies, to name a few. We also represent airline catering workers who work for Sky Chefs and Flying Food Group.

PRESS RELEASE: Third Woman Alleges Sexual Harassment Against Flying Food Group at LAX, File Complaints Againts Airline Catering Giant

Complaints are latest in litany of legal complaints against FFG; labor dispute drags on

Inglewood, CA: A third woman has filed a complaint against Flying Food Group, an airline catering giant LAX following two other women who did the same last month. All three are alleging that Flying Food Group failed to protect them from sexual harassment and gender discrimination on the job

In November of last year, two women employees of Flying Food Group, Nelly Hernandez and Sandra Ruiz, filed charges with the California Civil Rights Department alleging that they were subject to repeated sexual advances by their supervisor, including in the form of sexual comments, inappropriate staring, and multiple instances of unwanted physical touching at work.

Earlier this week, Patricia Hernandez Marquez, a former employee of Flying Food Group, joined Miss. Hernandez and Ruiz by filing her own charges, which allege that the same supervisor harassed her while she worked for Flying Food and drove her to quit. 

The women are asking the Civil Rights Department to investigate Flying Foods Group’s practices, including whether the conduct they have alleged constitutes illegal discrimination under California law.

Nelly Hernandez stated, “My supervisor has caused me to feel unsafe at work.  I’m afraid to clean the upstairs areas by myself in case he’ll find me there.  I stopped wearing perfume to work after all his comments.  I decided that I needed to do something.  Others need to know what is happening and that they, too, can combat this kind of injustice in their workplaces.”

Sandra Ruiz said, “After all that my supervisor has done, I feel anxious just to see him at work.  I get headaches and stomach aches and have lost weight in recent months.  The stress I feel having to come into work every day is too much for me to handle some days. After I learned about my co-workers speaking out, I knew I wasn’t alone.  I decided I had to come forward and demand respect, too, so that this stops happening.”

“This is not the first time Flying Food has been accused of failing to protect its employees,” said Susan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, the union that represents all complainants. “Time and again, workers have raised complaints about sex discrimination and other issues to the company.  It’s time for Flying Food to own up to its responsibility to the workers and hold management accountable for this kind of behavior.  No woman should have to work under the kind of harassment Nelly, Sandra, and Patricia have described.”

“Sexual harassment and discrimination isn’t just humiliating to workers,” said Jennifer Reisch, supervising attorney for the University of California at Irvine’s Workers Law and Organizing Clinic, which filed the charges on behalf of Flying Food employees.  “It also can be a tool for employers to divide workers and undermine their efforts at organizing and building solidarity in the workplace.”

Workers at Flying Food Group have been embroiled in a labor dispute since April 2023, when they went on strike for 28 days. Since that time, labor negotiations have continued to drag on without an agreement. The company has also been at the center of numerous legal battles; last month, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board announced that it would be moving to trial on seven unfair labor practices charges filed against the company, while a dozen more unfair labor practice charges remain under investigation.  Flying Food Group also paid out $1.2 million in damages earlier this year to employees for failing to recall them in a timely manner after the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with the states’ Right to Recall law.

FOX 11: LA tourism workers to receive increase in minimum wage

PRESS RELEASE: Los Angeles City Council Votes for Historic Olympic Wage 

Ordinance will increase wage for LAX & hotel workers to $30/hour by 2028, increase access to quality healthcare

Los Angeles: After dozens of tourism workers fasted for three days outside City Hall, the Los Angeles City council voted to move forward the Olympic Wage for tourism workers that would bring the wage to $30 an hour by the time the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028 and ensure workers have access to quality health coverage. The fasting workers are members of SEIU-United Service Workers West and Unite HERE Local 11 who work at LAX and some of LA’s major hotels.

“As a single mother of three who commutes over two hours from Bakersfield to work at LAX’s airline catering company LSG Sky Chef’s, it makes me happy to see this finally move forward . With the $20 I make it’s not nearly enough to help me live in Los Angeles. I am proud that city leaders are taking concrete steps to help better the lives of thousands of working families like mine ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics.”said Lorena Mendez, member of UNITE HERE Local 11 and faster.

“I have been fighting for this update to the Living Wage Ordinance for over 600 days because workers like me who are predominantly Black, brown, and immigrants and make LAX run deserve better. We deserve to be paid a wage we can live on. We deserve access to quality healthcare, so I can treat the COPD I developed from working at and living near LAX. I deserve access to the care my son needs to treat his asthma. Today’s City Council vote is a step in the right direction, demonstrating that when workers fight, workers win,” said Jovan Houston, LAX customer service agent, SEIU-USWW executive board member, and faster.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, said “Hotel and airport workers, the backbone of our thriving tourism industry, have made history. Through their strikes, marches, and even fasting, they won the nation’s highest minimum wage and the first-ever Olympic and Paralympic Wage. This is a critical first step to ensure that mega-events like the Olympics improve the lives of working Angelenos by providing affordable housing and good jobs, rather than simply enriching tourism CEO’s.”

“LAX workers have been fighting for the dignified wages and healthcare benefits that reflect the value of the essential work they do daily to anchor the transportation and tourism industries and will provide as our city prepares to host mega events like the World Cup and Olympics,” said David Huerta, President of SEIU-USWW. “LAX workers — predominantly Black, brown, and immigrant — took on the airlines and corporate special interests and even when faced with years of setbacks, they never gave up. Now, the LA City Council, thanks largely to the leadership of Councilmembers Soto-Martinez and Price and Council President Dawson has taken the righteous step to move the modernization of the Living Wage Ordinance forward, demonstrating that when LA responds to the needs of its workers, it can be a beacon of hope and live up to its name as the City of Angels.”

“Today’s vote is continuing the noble legacy of uplifting working families as the city gets ready to host the World Cup and the Olympics,” said Jessica Durrim Director at LAANE.

The vote marks a significant move forward after tourism workers first presented this ordinance in April 2023. The policy now goes to the City Attorney to draft and come back to the full council for a final vote. Tourism workers in Long Beach, another Olympics and Paralympics host city,  are similarly advocating for an Olympic wage.