• Slug: BC-CNS-Airport Worker Strike. 700 words.
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By Lauren Kobley
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Workers employed by SSP America at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport walked out on strike Tuesday morning in response to alleged labor-law violations.

UNITE HERE Local 11, the union that represents the strikers, filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board for alleged “unilateral changes” made to the SSP America payroll system. The changes were reportedly made without negotiating with the union and resulted in paycheck delays for workers. Cynthia Reyes is one of the workers who experienced the delays.

Reyes has been working for SSP America for a little over a year and described her experience as an “uphill battle.” For the past 10 months, she has been getting paid on Fridays, but the company recently switched pay days to Tuesdays and allegedly did not notify employees. Reyes was late on her rent payment and was charged an additional $150 in late fees due to the delay.

“It’s devastating because it’s scary that my landlord could go to court and get an eviction notice because I was late (to pay the rent),” Reyes said. “It’s my first check of the year, and it’s hard to express to someone that I’m struggling and I work a full-time job. … I work so hard, and I can barely fend for myself.”

SSP America was not immediately available for comment.

SSP America operates half of the food and beverage options at Sky Harbor, according to spokesperson Gregory Roybal.

SSP America workers at Sky Harbor also said they are facing issues related to unsafe work conditions and noncompliant equipment. Nicholas Ethier, a line cook at Four Peaks Brewing Company in Terminal 4, said he documented and brought up the issues to the new operations manager.

After talking to his superiors, Ethier was placed on temporary suspension for six shifts because of attendance issues, but he believes it was in retaliation for getting the union and higher management involved.

“I got the union involved, and after that, they (SSP America) kind of associated me with the union and it just seemed like things kept getting worse and worse,” Ethier said. “I know I’m doing the right thing, so I couldn’t really back off. We shouldn’t have to work in these conditions. We’re going to get hurt or we’re going to be serving bad food and could possibly send the customer to the hospital.”

Ethier has been an employee with SSP America since March and said he has not seen any improvement since. He hopes that bringing attention to the issues will create safer and more equitable working conditions for all SSP America employees at Sky Harbor.

“We continue to work with SSP America to minimize impacts to our passengers,” Roybal said when asked how Sky Harbor was responding to the strike. “We are proud of all the employees that work hard to make sure people passing through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport have a great passenger experience.”

Other workers said they have experienced racial discrimination from SSP America. Jasmine Glass, who used to work as a cashier and host at Los Taquitos in Terminal 4, said she was often asked to work outside of her job description by serving and doing utility work due to what she described as mismanagement and a lack of staffing.

When she applied for a job as a server, she was denied and told she needed to know every liquor, wine and beer the company offered – despite having prior experience serving in the restaurant. When she enlisted the help of the union, she said she found out the company was hiring people with no experience for the server position. Glass said she has since been fired.

The union has filed discrimination complaints against SSP America and said Black employees make almost $17,000 less on average per year than white employees, and Latino workers make almost $14,000 less than white workers, due in part to their job classifications.

“We’re not just numbers, we’re not robots, we’re people. I’ve dealt with all kinds of pain because I’ve gone above and beyond for this company, and I haven’t been shown any appreciation for it,” Glass said.