Above photo: Philadelphia International Airport, Dec. 20, 2025. Sky Chefs workers picket, organized by their union, UNITE HERE.
Philadelphia — A loud, spirited picket line of hundreds of workers marched in front of American Airlines Terminal C at Philadelphia International Airport on Dec. 20, one of the busiest air travel days of the year.
The protesters coordinated with other demonstrations ranging from pickets to street theater to die-ins taking place in Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Seattle the same day.
The labor actions were organized to support 10,000 UNITE HERE members working for LSG Sky Chefs. They provide food and beverages served aboard flights for American, Delta, United, Alaska and other major U.S. airlines.
Though the jobs Sky Chefs workers do are essential to airline operations, requiring skill and precision to prevent flight delays and ensure food safety, workers say they earn unlivable wages, and the employer-provided health care plan is too expensive.
Meanwhile, American Airlines reported record third-quarter revenue of $13.7 billion in 2025.
‘It’s our turn!’
Last year, 8,000 airline catering workers at Gate Gourmet won a new five-year union contract that included significant raises and better, affordable health insurance, among other benefits. Now, Sky Chefs workers — who do the same job — are demanding the same respect.
“IT’S OUR TURN!” read many UNITE HERE picket signs. Sky Chefs workers have been working to negotiate a new union contract with improved wages and benefits since their contract became “amendable” at the end of 2018.
The term “amendable” as defined in Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) refers to the ability of collective bargaining agreements to be changed or modified after proposals have been exchanged. Their contract is governed by federal law under the very restrictive RLA, which features almost interminable negotiation and mediation procedures before a strike is allowed to take place. Airlines and railroads make billions of dollars off the backs of workers from these anti-worker regulations, meant to stifle labor militancy.
American Airlines, which is raking in record revenues, profits from the labor that Sky Chefs workers do catering their planes. UNITE HERE members are pointing out with chants, signs and picketing that AA, as the client, is responsible for making sure Sky Chefs provides its workforce with the wages and benefits they deserve.
‘Safety first’
Some workers carried “Are we safe?” placards as other workers handed out “Safety must come first” fliers calling on Sky Chefs to make sure that workers are not injured on the job.
Under a new Sky Chefs protocol at some airports, instead of catering flights with two workers, workers are being required to do the job alone — including backing up the truck to the aircraft and onboarding the food and beverages. The new policy led to Taha Adem, a worker at Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport, having an arm and leg crushed between the truck and plane.
According to its 2025 Occupational Safety and Health Administration logs, Sky Chefs has recorded a total of 319 employee injuries across its U.S. facilities.
From safety to better wages, Sky Chefs workers are making their demands for justice loudly and clearly.
