PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City Council will consider a bill that would require health insurance and a higher minimum wage for concession workers at the city’s sports facilities. City Council President Kenyatta Johnson sponsored a bill at Thursday’s Council session that would impose a raise and health care benefits for the workers.
The service workers’ union “Unite Here” has been negotiating with Aramark on behalf of concession workers at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, as well as staging a four-day strike last month. Though there are a lot of issues involved in the talks, Johnson’s bill would resolve some of the most pressing concerns — on wages and benefits.
“If you look at the other stadiums surrounding the city of Philadelphia and how much concession stand workers get paid, we are the lowest,” he said. “So we have the data that shows we should be elevating our concession stand workers when we’re addressing the issue of poverty here in the city of Philadelphia.”
Niya Wise, who works at Wells Fargo Center and Lincoln Financial Field, told City Council members she’s worried about how she’ll get the care that she needs now that she’s pregnant. She urged them to pass Johnson’s bill.
“This bill would allow me to be more financially stable, month to month, and help me afford the health care and benefits that I would need for me and my family,” Wise said.
Johnson did something similar three years ago, when he imposed raises and benefits for concession workers at Philadelphia International Airport. He says the city has the power to impose the terms because it’s the landlord, just as it is at the airport. This is simply expanding upon that precedent, he said.
Aramark says it would have a negative impact on the teams, the fans and its operations — and it will fight the bill.
The “expansion” comes as Council is also considering a Center City basketball arena, which would be covered by the bill — and which might be viewed more favorably if its future workforce were guaranteed prevailing wages and health care.
Though Johnson says that’s not the goal: “That would be up to the workers. Obviously, we want to be sure that we’re creating good-paying jobs, not jobs that perpetuate the cycles of poverty here in the city of Philadelphia.”