Aviation trade unions in Europe have committed to mobilising in support of over 1,000 Flying Food Group workers at SFO and LAX airports. At this week’s Section meeting, the ETF’s Civil Aviation Section passed a resolution after hearing from FFG workers and their union, UNITE HERE, to support their five-year struggle for a collective bargaining agreement. FFG workers provide catering services to numerous European carriers at LAX and SFO airports and are a critical part of their supply chains.
The resolution follows a visit to Berlin by a delegation from UNITE HERE Local 11, the US union representing FFG workers, supported by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). The delegation travelled to Europe to press Lufthansa, Air France, Virgin Atlantic, and other European carriers to take action over what the union has called serious and persistent labour violations by one of their key suppliers. It follows a recent independent report by two leading labour law experts – Deborah Greenfield, former Deputy Director-General of the ILO, and Lance Compa, Senior Lecturer Emeritus at Cornell’s ILR School – finding that Flying Food’s alleged breaches span multiple categories of ILO core labour standards (full report here).
FFG’s record is striking. Over the last several years, five different government agencies in the US have issued citations or complaints against the company relating to violations of the minimum wage, workplace hazards, public safety, employment protections, and interference with the right to organise and bargain collectively. In addition, seven women have also filed pending sexual harassment complaints, including three who have alleged they subsequently faced retaliation. (....)