Hudson retail employees have voted to authorize a strike after months of labor negotiations. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Retail employees at Ontario International Airport have authorized a strike in an effort to negotiate higher wages.
Employees of The Hudson Group, a travel retailer based in the United States and Canada, voted unanimously Tuesday, Aug. 15, to allow their negotiating committee to use a strike, if necessary, as it continues to push for a new contract. There’s no immediate plan to strike but it remains an option for workers, according to Arun Ramakrishna, a labor organizer with UNITE HERE Local 11.
The union’s move comes after months of negotiations that it says has led nowhere. In a news release, the union said the previous contracts with Hudson Group expired three years ago. Negotiations stalled in January 2023, the union said.
“They’ve been negotiating with us for some amount of months, but the workers have not seen sufficient enough progress on getting them to a living wage,” Ramakrishna said. “So workers decided to take the steps to put pressure on the company to recognize the value that they provide to the airport and to pay them accordingly.”
Ramakrishna said the majority of workers are making the state minimum wage of $15.50, which cannot keep up with the rising cost of living in Southern California.
“I am a mother of three boys,” said Nida Austria, a Hudson Group cashier, in the union’s news release. “Because of the wages we are being paid, I have had to work a second job at a Circle K for 15 years to provide for my children and pay the bills. My coworkers and I should be able to provide for our families by working one full-time job. I have given two decades of service to this airport and deserve to have a living wage and affordable healthcare.”
According to Ramakrishna, many Hudson Group workers are past retirement age and won’t or can’t retire.
“So another kind of big point that workers are fighting for is to be able to retire with dignity and have a strong pension,” said Ramakrishna. The workers want their employer to pay more toward their pensions.
The Hudson Group could not immediately be reached for comment.
In January, another group of workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 11 at ONT won protections from the Ontario International Airport Authority when the airport switched from its previous concessions company Delaware North to SSP America. After workers rallied to ask for a worker retention policy, the board voted to add a policy to the new contract.
Leadership at ONT said they support good wages for Hudson Group workers and hope things will be resolved quickly.
“While we do not anticipate an interruption in customer service, we are hopeful that the two sides can come together to ensure the best of all possible outcomes for Hudson, its employees and the millions of passengers who have made ONT their airport of choice,” airport CEO Atif Elkadi said in an email.
