Union files complaint against Aramark over dues
A labor union filed criminal complaints against Aramark Corp., the Philadelphia-based global food services company that runs the concessions at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.
A labor union filed criminal complaints against Aramark Corp., the Philadelphia-based global food services company that runs the concessions at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.
Workers United, in a nationwide protest yesterday, accused Aramark of stealing from its employees by collecting union dues from their paychecks, but not turning them over to their union.
However, it is not entirely clear who their union is.
Until March, Philadelphia-area Aramark workers, like many Aramark workers around the nation, were represented by Unite-Here, a union created in 2004 by the merger of two other unions.
But in March, the two unions, citing irreconcilable differences, split into two groups - one retaining the Unite-Here name, the other called Workers United, a branch of the Service Employees International Union.
Since then, the two unions have been fighting across the nation for members' loyalties and dues.
Like other employers, Aramark has been escrowing dues until the situation is resolved.
Some 1,700 local Aramark workers are affected.
"This is clearly an escalation of the dispute between the unions themselves and has nothing to do with us at Aramark," said Kristine Grow, a spokeswoman.
She said it is difficult for an employer to figure out what to do when some employees say they are represented by Workers United, yet the payroll deduction authorizations they signed specify that the dues are to go to Unite-Here.
"We are waiting for guidance from the National Labor Relations Board," she said.
Workers United argues that some NLRB cases do provide sufficient guidance. Unite-Here disagrees with Workers United's interpretation of the cases.
"Aramark does not have the right to take money out of workers' paychecks and then do whatever it wants to do with it," Bruce Raynor, president of Workers United, said in a statement. Both the union and the company agree that Aramark is escrowing the money.
Workers United also filed complaints with police departments in Oakland, Calif., and Portland, Ore.
