Qantas Lounge Workers at LAX Vote to Authorize a Strike
Qantas Lounge workers at LAX voted 100% to authorize a strike. These 100 workers are fighting for their first union contract and are now authorized to strike! When we fight, we win!
JETWAY WORKERS WIN A NEW CONTRACT IN LAX
After being without a contract since 2019, Jetway workers at LAX agreed to a new contract that includes tens of thousands of dollars in retro pay! This is the 20th food service contract ratified in LAX in 2026. Sí se puede!
The Compass United Lounges in LAX ratify their first union contract
After fighting for nine years—a fight first started by LA Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez when he was a union organizer—the Compass-United Lounges at LAX finally ratified their first union contract. Workers won raises, healthcare, pension, and the legal fund. Workers will be making between $29 and $33 an hour depending on whether they register for healthcare. This new contract will cover over 130 workers.
Sodexo workers at the Qantas Lounge fighting for their first union contract
Sodexo workers from the Qantas Lounge started picketing for their first contract that will include union healthcare and retirement! Stand in solidarity with them!
Flying Food Group: Press Tsunami Over Alleged Health Violations
In-flight catering workers the Flying Food Group kitchen in LA reported exposure to cockroaches, mold, maggots, and excessive heat while preparing in-flight meals for flights leaving LAX. And—of course—the press worldwide went nuts over it! Here’s a sample of the coverage.
PRESS RELEASE: As L.A. City Investigation Continues, Serial Lawbreaker Flying Food Group Quietly Moves to Repay Dozens of Workers It Failed to Provide Required Healthcare Benefits in Apparent Violation of LAX Living Wage Law
LOS ANGELES — As the City of Los Angeles continues investigating Flying Food Group for alleged violations of the LAX Living Wage Ordinance, the airline caterer has begun quietly paying dozens of workers after city investigators uncovered an additional apparent violation involving required healthcare benefits.
In March of this year, workers filed a complaint with the City of Los Angeles alleging that Flying Food Group’s newly implemented healthcare plan failed to satisfy the LAX Living Wage Ordinance’s healthcare benefit requirement, which currently requires employers to provide qualifying health benefits valued at $7.65 per hour or pay the equivalent amount in additional wages. Workers contend the company’s health plan is worth less than the required amount, leaving nearly all 800 workers underpaid. That investigation remains ongoing.
During the course of the investigation, however, the City’s Bureau of Contract Administration (BCA) uncovered a separate violation. Investigators found that Flying Food Group failed to provide any healthcare credit at all to some workers, resulting in an underpayment of $7.65 per hour for every hour worked. It appears the violation primarily affected newly hired employees but also included several longtime workers.
“The number of times this company has failed to pay workers what we are owed or done something else to break the law is just crazy. These payments show me the company had the money to pay us all along. That is a company that does not respect us or value us,” said Pascual Salgado, a worker at Flying Food Group
After BCA notified Flying Food Group of the violation, the company began issuing payments to affected workers last week, with individual payments reportedly ranging from several hundred dollars to approximately $14,000. Flying Food Group has since submitted a list of workers it says have been paid, and BCA is now reviewing whether all affected employees were included and whether the payment amounts fully compensate workers for what they are owed.
Flying Food Group has violated the Living Wage Ordinance on multiple occasions previously, with multiple “notice of corrections” issued to the company and its subcontractors by BCA and two class action lawsuits, and the company agreeing to paying millions in back wages to workers. The company has twice sued the City, claiming the Living Wage Ordinance did not apply to them, and in the last instance, the settlement agreement included a commitment by the company that they would not make such a challenge again.
The discovery marks the latest alleged labor law violation involving Flying Food Group. In addition to the past violations of the Living Wage Ordinance, the company has also received citations or settled complaints with Cal/OSHA, the California Labor Commissioner, the National Labor Relations Board and the California Highway Patrol..
Flying Food Group is an airline catering company that provides in-flight meals for international airlines flying out of LAX like Lufthansa, Air France, SWISS Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, ANA, Starlux, China Southern Qantas, Air New Zealand, and Hawaiian Airlines. Flying Food Group was recently given only a 6-month license extension by the City of Los Angeles which lasts until the end of 2026.
SkyChefs workers are fighting for quality healthcare
Workers picketed the American Airlines terminal protesting their SkyChefs contract. These workers are fighting for quality healthcare at LAX!
BREAKING NEWS: Airline Caterer Flying Food Group with Record of Worker Abuse Receives “Yellow Card,” Placed on 6-Month Probation by City of LA
LOS ANGELES, CA. In the wake of numerous complaints about worker safety and other abuses, the body that runs LAX – Los Angeles World Airports or “LAWA” – has decided to put a major airline caterer for international flights, Flying Food Group, on a status akin to probation.
Companies serving LAX must obtain a special permit called a Certified Service Provider License from the City. Complying with worker protections is a condition of such licenses, which have historically been granted for periods of five years.
Flying Food Group has been embroiled in controversy for years, as five different government agencies issued citations or complaints against the company for issues ranging from paying workers less than the minimum wage to serious safety hazards.
In response to persistent complaints from workers, LAWA has now decided to deny FFG an ordinary five-year license, and instead issue the company a conditional term for a period of just six months. It is expected that LAX will continue an ongoing investigation of FFG’s record during this period to determine whether the conditional license should be continued.
Given this development, major airlines that have been sourcing from FFG–including Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Air France, Lufthansa, Swiss Airways, ANA, Japan Airlines, and Qantas–may need to look to alternative suppliers for their inflight meals.
Serving the airport is a lucrative business, with Certified Service Provider License holders collectively making close to a half billion dollars a year. Flying Food Group is one of the highest-grossing of these companies, making $112 million in revenue in FY 2025.
In April 2026, the Board of Airport Commissioners granted LAWA staff the authority to approve new 5-year terms for all 77 firms that have entered into Certified Service Provider Licenses. LAWA staff created three categories for license renewal: five-year renewals for low risk companies and industries, one-year renewals for companies and industries with higher risk and six-month probationary renewals that require more in-depth review.
LAX placed Flying Food Group in the final category, which workers have taken to calling the “penalty box.” The move follows years of worker complaints to City leaders by Flying Food Group workers, who have raised concerns about alleged wage theft, retaliation, sexual harassment, and other issues at 48 LAWA meetings.
Over the last several months, two separate reports have detailed the company’s long record of labor abuse: one report co-authored by the former Deputy Director General of the International Labor Organization–and another report endorsed by a Truth Commission of major labor and civil rights leaders and experts.
Most recently, last month Cal/OSHA issued the company four new citations it deemed “serious,” including two citations for failing to ensure that workers could exit cold storage rooms–a hazard for which it was previously cited and which led to a near tragedy during a fire in January in which two workers were found in a cooler room that had been locked from the outside.
Workers and labor leaders reacted to the decision as a positive step in the efforts to hold City licensees accountable for worker abuse, while at the same time urging the City to LAWA and Mayor Karen Bass to now revoke Flying Foods Group’s conditional license.
Elisa Valencia, a worker at Flying Food Group, said:
“I am glad the City has taken this step to begin to hold FFG accountable. We work hard serving travelers and we deserve to work in conditions that do not endanger our lives.”
Susan Minato, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11, said:
“No company is above the law. For years, Flying Food Group workers have courageously spoken out about unsafe conditions, wage theft, and a culture that puts profits ahead of people. We’re now finally seeing the City begin to listen to their cries for help. But while this is an important first step, the truth is that this company has committed more ‘red cards’ at this point than any we’ve ever seen and they have no business operating at LAX.”
The City of Los Angeles has already issued six determinations finding Flying Food Group or its subcontractors in violation of the airport minimum wage ordinance and is currently investigating an additional complaint. Since 2017, the company has settled two wage theft class-action lawsuits totaling more than $4.5 million.
Today’s decision represents a significant step forward for airline catering workers who have spent years demanding safer workplaces, legal compliance, and accountability from one of LAX’s largest service providers. Workers will continue to organize until full accountability is reached.
LAX: Two New Contract Ratifications
Workers in LAX at both Soto & Sanchez / I Love LA and SoCal Concessions ratified new contracts that will bring over $10 in raises, more money to maintain their free family healthcare, and big increases in their pension.
The new contract for Soto & Sanchez / I Love LA covers about 30 workers and was ratified on June 22. The new contract for Jackmont / SoCal Concessions covers around 90 workers and was ratified May 11. Congratulations, to ev eryone involved… and sí se puede!
