Read our editorial on the significance of strikes here.
Over 1,000 concession workers at the Fenway Park stadium in Boston have returned to work after being on strike from Friday 7/25 to Sunday 7/27 due to not reaching a contract agreement with their employer by an established deadline. The demands are for higher wages, restrictions on automation, and dignified working conditions. The strike was organized by UNITE HERE Local 26.
The return to work followed the scheduled conclusion of the strike, a resolution was not reached. Negotiations are ongoing and union officials threaten to strike again if an agreement isn’t met soon.
It is the first labor stoppage in the history of the 113-year-old stadium.
The striking workers cited to monopoly media that they had spent months negotiating with Aramark—their employer—to no avail. They decided to use the popular three-game series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers as an opportunity to strike, calling on spectators to not buy food in the stadium.
During the strike, workers pointed out to UNITE HERE how machines are replacing front-end roles that humans previously held, resulting in less tips being given to workers and less positions being held by workers.
Workers also mentioned to UNITE HERE that they are paid far less than their counterparts at other stadiums, citing how at LoanDepot Park in Miami, cashiers are paid $21.25 an hour compared to Fenway’s $18.52 an hour, far below Boston’s $30 living wage. A worker summed it up as: “we’re underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated”.
According to monopoly media reports, on 7/26 striking workers confronted scabs Aramark hired during the strike when the latter exited the park after a game, resulting in a scab calling the police on the picket and the police leading a scab away in handcuffs after mutual accusations of the strikers and scabs spitting at each other. UNITE HERE local 26 said a statement the next day they are investigating the union workers and will “take all appropriate actions to discipline any member who engaged in racist behavior during the strike at Fenway”. Accusations against the picketers of “racist behavior” comes from monopoly media interviews with scabs and Aramark statements. The striking workers have disputed the story on social media, calling it a company trick.
Image: Fenway Park Concession Workers on Strike, July 26. Source: UNITE HERE Local 26.
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