Roughly 150 employees at Reagan National Airport are holding informational pickets this week as they pursue the right to organize a union.
The employees, who work across four concessions operated by Master ConcessionAir, were scheduled to picket from 10-11:30 a.m. today (Monday) as well as from 1-3 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) on the airport’s ticketing level, just outside of Door 6.
Among the employees’ demands is a greater accommodation of the needs of immigrants working at the airport, one employee said.
“The company has a policy that says you can’t take a personal leave of absence for more than 28 days without having to reapply for your job… at my other union restaurant job at the airport, I am able to go back home for up to 3 months,” Yewbdar Zeleke, a bartender at the airport, said in a statement. “MCA, please let us visit our families.”
The employees are working with the support of UNITE HERE Local 23, which represents food service workers at other eateries in National Airport, Dulles International Airport, Smithsonian museums and more.
“MCA workers at our Nation’s Capitol airport deserve better,” Local 23 Chapter President Anthony Randolph said. “They are serving lawmakers and travelers from across the world — yet they are struggling to make ends meet and afford healthcare. They deserve a fair process to decide on unionization.”
Master ConcessionAir currently operates four DCA restaurants : P.F. Chang’s, Wolfgang Puck, Peet’s Coffee and Dos Toros Taqueria. Two other restaurants are scheduled to open this fall under the Master ConcessionAir umbrella, as is a Busboys & Poets location in 2025.
