About 150 Reagan National Airport employees are holding information strikes this week to demand their right to form a union.
Employees working at four concessions operated by Master ConcessionAir were scheduled to strike today (Monday) from 10am to 11.30am and tomorrow (Tuesday) from 1pm to 3pm on the airport’s ticketing level, just outside Door 6.
One of the demands of the employees is to better accommodate the needs of immigrants working at the airport, said one employee.
“Company policy states that one cannot take personal leave of more than 28 days without having to reapply for the position… my other job in union catering at the airport allows me to go home for up to three months,” Yewbdar Zeleke, a bartender at the airport, said in a statement. “MCA, please let us visit our families.”
Employees are working with the support of UNITE HERE Local 23, which represents food service workers at other food service locations at National Airport, Dulles International Airport, the Smithsonian museums and more.
“MCA employees at our nation’s capital’s airport deserve better,” said Anthony Randolph, president of Local 23 Chapter. “They serve legislators and travelers from around the world – and yet they struggle to make ends meet and afford health insurance. They have a right to a fair process to decide whether to unionize.”
Master ConcessionAir currently operates four DCA restaurants: PF Chang’s, Wolfgang Puck, Peet’s Coffee and Dos Toros Taqueria. Two more restaurants are scheduled to open this fall under the Master ConcessionAir umbrella, as well as a Busboys & Poets location in 2025.
