PHXStrike Alert: HMS Host Locations to Avoid at PHX Sky Harbor Airport
Call or email HMS Host
(877) 672-7467
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HMS Host locations to avoid
ALL Starbucks outlets, Barrio Café, Blanco’s Tacos, Cowboy Ciao, Dilly’s Deli, LGO Marketplace, Chelsea’s Kitchen, American Airlines Admiral’s Club lounges, Olive & Ivy, Focaccia Florentina, Shake Shack, San Tan Brewery, Zin Burger
HMS Host workers are striking for fair raises, affordable health insurance, protections for workers’ tips, a company-paid retirement contribution, and strong contract language for equal opportunity and protection from discrimination
STRIKE ALERT: Ahead of Busy Travel Season, Sky Harbor HMS Host Workers Vote 97% to Authorize Strike
BREAKING NEWS: 11/19/2021
Phoenix airport concessions workers may announce an indefinite walkout any day following overwhelming vote in favor of strike
Phoenix: HMS Host workers at Sky Harbor Airport voted 97% Thursday in favor of authorizing a strike. The authorization comes just one week before the Thanksgiving holiday, after almost four years of negotiations and no contract. Workers have not yet announced a date for the strike to begin.
HMS Host is the single largest concessionaire at Sky Harbor Airport employing hundreds of workers in over two dozen restaurant and coffee shop outlets. A strike would impact travelers arriving and departing in both Terminal 3 and 4.
“We are ready to do whatever it takes for however long it takes to win what we deserve: fair raises, health insurance that we can actually afford, and a pension,” said barista Victoria Stahl. “There is no reason that HMS Host cannot do these things. It’s disrespectful of the hard work that my coworkers and I have put in through the pandemic. They’ve rejected our proposals at the bargaining table and if this is what we need to do for them to listen, we’re ready.”
Workers are demanding a new, comprehensive contract with fair raises, affordable health insurance, a company-paid retirement contribution, protections for workers’ tips, and strong contract language for equal opportunity and protection from discrimination. Workers with UNITE HERE Local 11 have been in negotiations with HMS Host since 2017. Delays in settling a contract mean delays in wage increases and official COVID safety protocols during a global pandemic.
“I voted yes to authorize a strike because I have worked for HMS Host for 27 years and I still don’t have a pension,” said cook Santos Mojica. “I want to know that I will be able to afford to retire in dignity when I can no longer work.”
“I voted yes to authorize a strike because I spend over $350 a month for health insurance and my medication. It isn’t fair that I have to go to Mexico for medical treatment that the company insurance plan won’t cover. Host still hasn’t agreed in bargaining to make health insurance affordable for us and our families. I don’t want to see my raises spent to keep up with the rising cost of my insurance. That isn’t right,” said Lucia Salinas, a cook for 17 years with HMS Host.
Arizona Activists Descend on AZ Attorney General’s Office to Protest Republican Voter Suppression and Demand Federal Action to Protect Voting Rights
Phoenix, AZ – Nine people were taken into Phoenix Police Department custody after participating in a peaceful civil disobedience outside of Attorney General Brnovich’s office Thursday morning as part of a rally and picket line protesting his relentless attacks on Arizonans’ voting rights.
“We are telling Mark Brnovich, our Attorney General, that we will not just sit by and watch as our rights are stripped away. We deserve real national voting rights legislation and we will do whatever it takes to make that happen,” said Joshua Wells, a community organizer.
On July 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in support of Brnovich’s defense of two restrictive voting laws. The decision gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, undermining historic protections against racial discrimination in elections. Additionally, the Arizona state legislature passed a flurry of anti-voter measures at the tail end of the session that concluded last week. One of those bills requires the Secretary of State to provide voter information, including’ date of birth and part of their Social Security number, to a third-party private vendor who could then remove them from the voter rolls.
At the same time, the Arizona legislature took the unprecedented move of removing powers from the Secretary of State and conferring them on the Arizona Attorney General, a move that coincides with the end of Secretary Katie Hobbs’ term. Attorney General Brnovich announced his intention to run for U. S. Senate in 2022 on June 10.
“We have brave freedom fighters here today who are going to demand justice from our Attorney General and demand that he stop attacking the freedom to vote. When you have a complicit governor, a complicit attorney general, [and a] complicit majority-Republican legislature, there’s only so much we can do here today,” said State Representative Athena Salman, addressing the crowd, “We need Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Mark Kelly and President Joe Biden to stand up. We delivered for them and now they have to deliver for us. The number one thing, the foundation of our democracy, is protecting our freedom to vote.
More than 75 attended the action that highlighted the need for the For the People Act – federal voting rights legislation – to protect against the 350+ voter suppression bills introduced across 47 states since January 2021.
The same coalition recently completed a weeklong freedom ride to Washington D.C for voting rights.