A small group of restaurant workers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport staged a 24-hour strike Wednesday as part of a more than three-year fight by Unite Here Local 7 to organize workers at companies that operate airport concessions.
Workers, seeking a process by which to unionize, say they want higher wages, job stability when restaurants are replaced and an end to what organizers describe as racial inequality in jobs. Eight workers, employed by Aero Service Group, which runs BWI restaurants including DuClaw Brewing Co., Zona Cocina and Villa Fresh Italian, participated.
Tony Brown, 28, a Zona Cocina line cook from Northeast Baltimore who said raises have been delayed until January, said he hoped his actions would show co-workers "you have a voice and you can fight."
An Aero Service spokeswoman said the company was notified early Wednesday that 16 workers would strike from 4 a.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday, but that only seven people scheduled for those shifts did not come to work.
"Unite Here does not represent our employees," said Michelle Ranum, director of brand strategy for Minnesota-based Aero Service. "We have over 100 employees, and this did not in any way affect our business. It was a non-event for us."
The union hopes to bring attention to what it calls racial inequality in airport restaurant jobs. Black workers, many from the city, fill a disproportionate number of back of the house or fast food jobs, which tend to be lower paying, said Tracy Lingo, an organizer with Unite Here.