Airline caterers to hold picket at Sea-Tac

You’ll still get the meal you ordered on your Alaska Airlines flight out of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), despite an upcoming picket.

The people who provide the food for the airline will be holding an “informational picket” at the airport Thursday.

“The airlines, Alaska in particular, have had record profits over the last year, but the workers who cater those airplanes, the ones who prepare and bring the food to those planes, are making really low wages,” Anita Seth, the president of Unite Here Local 8, which represents the airline catering workers, told KIRO Newsradio.

Airline caterers want better wages, health care

Seth said many workers are making the City of SeaTac’s minimum wage, which is just over $20 an hour, but she said it is less than what other airport workers make.

She said the airline caterers also want better health care benefits.

“They, in theory, have access to health care, but it’s very poor quality care with very high deductibles,” Seth said. “And these are the only workers in Local 8 that we represent that don’t have affordable, high-quality health care.”

About 800 workers cater for Seattle-based Alaska Airlines.

“They stock the carts that go onto the planes with beverages. They prepare the food that is served on the plane, including the hot meals served in first class or on international flights, and they drive the food over to the planes and load it onto the airplanes,” Seth explained.

KIRO Newsradio has reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment.

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