Workers Slam Aramark for Making Mellon Arena Workers Reapply for Own Jobs

Well this sucks!

Who: Workers United, SEIU, Affected Workers, Representatives from One Hill/Hill District Consensus Group, and the Hill District Community

Workers United, SEIU will hold a press conference tomorrow calling on Aramark to change its position on the transfer of Mellon Arena workers to the new Arena.

On February 12th Aramark notified its Mellon Arena employees that they would have to reapply for their jobs when they moved to their new location at the Consol Energy Center. They added that current employees were not guaranteed to get their jobs back. The letter also informed employees that they would not have a union when they started working at Consol Energy Center, meaning that the contract currently in place at Mellon will not be honored, and that the company would not have to honor workers’ seniority or existing wage and benefit standards. .

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Workers United, SEIU, the union representing the employees, sees this as a ploy by Aramark designed to allow them to disregard seniority, lower wages and reduce benefits, and weaken or remove the union.

“The new arena is a publicly owned building. We can’t stand by and let this vendor use the move as an excuse to strip long term employees of seniority, cut wages or benefits, or strip workers of their union,” said Sam Williamson, Associate Manager of the Pennsylvania Joint Board of Workers United.

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“The opening of this new arena should be a good thing for the neighborhood, the city and the region. But this move would give it a black eye. We’re calling on Aramark not to be a spoiler on what would otherwise be an all around celebration,” added Sam Williamson.
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