Food service workers at Emeril’s Kitchen, Starbucks and several other concessions at Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner have reached the first ever union contract deal with operator HMS Host at the facility. But employees of the other major operator, Delaware North, are talking potential strike action after contract talks hit a wall.
The HMS Host deal covers about 250 employees and bumps wages for cooks and other non-tipped workers by $2 to $3 an hour immediately and includes a formula for annual increases for all classes of workers, according to officials from Unite Here, the union that negotiated the deal. It also brings the employees under the union’s healthcare insurance.
However, Unite Here officials said they are currently at a stalemate with Delaware North, which employs another 250 workers not covered by the HMS Host deal.
They noted that employees of Delaware North, whose concessions include PJ’s Coffee, Folse Market and Leah’s Kitchen, have been working without a contract since July and they so far have made little progress with the Buffalo, New York-based operator over improved wages and benefits. The company is similarly at a stalemate over the overall contract that will apply also to other airports, where some workers have threatened strike action.
Strike votes
“Austin workers already voted to authorize a strike last week and Delaware North employees working at Fort Lauderdale airport will be voting on whether to authorize a strike next week,” said Willie Woods, New Orleans chapter president of Unite Here Local 23, which has about 25,000 members in 13 states, including Louisiana.
“We expect more workers will follow the lead of the Delaware North workers in Austin,” Woods said.
Delaware North officials did not respond to several requests for comment. The company is owned by the Jacobs family, which owns the Boston Bruins hockey team, and operates concessions in hundreds of facilities in the U.S. and overseas, including state parks, sports facilities and casinos, as well as airports.
Veronica Cloudet, a union shop steward for Delaware North employees at New Orleans airport, and currently working as a cashier at the company’s Chick-fil-A concession, said there are a long list of issues they want addressed in a new contract.
She said long-serving employees have fallen behind on wages. The airport is under the jurisdiction of the City of New Orleans, which last year adopted the Living Wage ordinance, mandating a minimum wage of $15 an hour. But Cloudet, who has been working for Delaware North and its predecessor company for 26 years, got no increase to her $17 an hour wage when the new minimum was adopted.
Making ends meet
“I’ve had to dip into my 401K pension savings to cover bills,” she said. Also, without a new contract she is worried about taking time off to get necessary surgery on her knees.
Shanoura Patterson, a cashier Angelo Brocato, has worked for Delaware North at the airport for 21 years, since she was 18 years old.
“Last year I took out a personal loan before Christmas to pay my family’s holiday expenses,” she said. “With everything so high right now, it costs $80 just to get groceries for a meal. Making only $16.55, I couldn’t have afforded to give my family a decent holiday without the loan.”
The situation has reversed for the HMS Host workers who previously were not covered by a union contract. Another concession in their new deal allows workers that are not traditionally tipped, including cashiers and kitchen staff, to share in the tips.
“I am excited about all the tips everyone will get now,” said Jessica Jackson, a Starbucks barista employed by HMSHost. “Before we couldn’t get tips, now we’ll even get mobile app tips at the Starbucks where I work.”
HMS Host also operates Cure, Munch Factory, Chili’s, Auntie Anne’s, Mondo, Shake Shack, Panda Express, Smoothie King and Great American Bagel. The company’s spokesperson, Ashley Davidson, said it began contract talks with New Orleans staff in March of this year and its current concession contract runs through the end of 2029. She declined to comment further on the deal.
Delaware North’s other concessions are MoPho, Bar Sazerac/Dook’s Burgers, Angelo Brocato, Ye Olde College Inn, Heritage School of Music Stage and Wine Bar, Midway Pizza and City Greens.
The Delaware North workers’ representatives attended Thursday’s monthly meeting of the airport’s oversight board to seek their support in negotiations for better terms.
“We hope that leadership at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport will support the Delaware North workers in these contract negotiations,” said Woods.
Woods noted that talks are scheduled for the end of the month with Delaware North representatives.
“People are having to choose between paying rent, taking care of their health, and putting food on the table,” he said, “So, we’re hopeful that workers will win a great contract, as they just did at HMS Host New Orleans.”
Airport officials said the contract negotiations were between workers and the concession operators and had no further comment.
This story has been updated to add new details.
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