Wells Fargo Center Aramark workers authorize strike for better wages and health care amid inflation

Aramark employees at the Wells Fargo Center voted on Sunday to authorize a strike, saying that the food services giant doesn’t provide health insurance to hundreds of workers at Philadelphia’s major sports stadiums and has not raised wages to match inflation.

Unite Here Local 274, representing food service workers at Wells Fargo Center, Citizens Bank, and Lincoln Financial Field, reported that around 92% of voting Wells Fargo workers supported authorizing the union’s bargaining team to call for a strike. The exact number of voters was not disclosed.

Whether a strike actually takes place “is in Aramark’s court,” as the union continues bargaining on a new contract for Wells Fargo workers, said Rosslyn Wuchinch, Local 274′s president. She said employees are prepared to strike if necessary.

Chris Collom, Aramark’s vice president of corporate communications, said in an email that the company “intends to keep working toward a settlement that works for everyone.”

“In the event of a strike, we have contingency plans in place to ensure that services are not interrupted,” he said.

Aramark employees handle food services at the city’s three major stadiums, but each venue has separate contracts with the company — despite the fact that many Aramark employees work year-round at all three stadiums. As a result, union members say, many are effectively working full-time jobs for the company without the corresponding benefits, including health care and consistent wages.

The union has pushed for a standard minimum wage across the stadiums and health care for employees working at least 750 hours annually across the venues, a proposition met with an offer from Aramark for health-care eligibility at a threshold of 1,500 hours.

“We’re really not seasonal workers — we’re really full time,” said Tiffani Davis, a shop steward with Local 274 who has worked as a head cashier and a cook at concession stands in the stadiums. “We work through all types of weather and different types of people.”

Davis balances three jobs, including her Aramark position, to care for her disabled uncle, who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer. She’s not eligible for health care through Aramark, and relies on another job for coverage. Others in her union have simply gone without health care, in some cases for years.

Lamont McDowell, a union committee member and prep cook at Wells Fargo, said he hasn’t seen a doctor in over five years because he doesn’t have health insurance. About 400 employees at the Wells Fargo Center could gain health insurance under the union’s proposal, he said.

“The higher ups in this building make big bucks, and we’re not making nothing. You get paid one amount [at the Wells Fargo Center], you go to the Linc, you get another amount, and at the ballpark, everybody makes a different amount,” he said. “We want one contract, where all workers that do the same work get paid the same.”

A strike by Wells Fargo Center’s food service employees wouldn’t affect the other stadiums, as separate votes are required to halt work at Citizens Bank Park or Lincoln Financial Field.

Wuchinch called the vote a historic moment for the stadium workforce. It was the first strike vote at the Wells Fargo Center in at least 20 years, she said.

“In 2016 and 2018, workers fought to have the right to work in all three stadiums and won that fight,” she said. “Now, the struggle is about the quality of those wages and benefits. This vote is for this building, but it sets a standard for the complex as a whole.”