One month after Fenway Park workers voted to green-light a strike, it could happen on Friday.
The union representing service and hospitality workers at Fenway and MGM Music Hall in Boston announced Wednesday that unless the ballpark’s food service and facilities provider Aramark comes to the bargaining table with a new proposal, they’ll begin striking at noon on Friday. The strike is scheduled to last three days while the Red Sox host the World Series champion Dodgers.
“It’s a big series, there’s going to be a lot of people in town. [Red Sox owner] John Henry and Aramark stand to make a lot of money,” Fenway food and beer vendor Laura Crystal tells Front Office Sports. “They don’t want a disruption as much as we don’t want a disruption, so if that’s going to help us, so be it.”
The workers through UNITE HERE Local 26 have been negotiating a new deal with Aramark since their contract expired Dec. 31, 2024. Workers are pushing for better pay, fairer scheduling, and to ban automation at the park. Hundreds of workers already signed up for strike benefits and dozens received formal training to be picket captains, the union stated in an email.
The workers and Aramark met last week at the negotiating table, their only meeting since authorizing the bargaining committee to call a strike last month. Crystal says the workers offered some concessions including on automation but still felt the sides were too far apart, leading to the decision to announce strike dates—which is a negotiating tactic itself.
“If that’s what happens and we end up striking this weekend, we’re not happy about it,” Crystal says. “We’ve all been looking forward to this series, we’re looking forward to working it…We’re doing whatever we have to do to show that we’re very serious about this and we want to be taken seriously, and so we’re going to use an opportunity that is important to both groups.”
If they do strike, the union is asking fans to still attend games at Fenway Park, but not purchase any concessions in support of the strike. The initial dates only last through the Dodgers series, but the Red Sox return to Fenway the following weekend to host the Astros.
On Tuesday night, the workers of Fenway Park sent a letter to Henry to intervene in the union workers’ contract negotiations with Aramark. “This letter is not an ultimatum. It’s an invitation,” the workers wrote.
“It’s about whether the people who serve the hot dogs, pour the beer, and welcome the fans can afford to keep living in the city we love,” the letter read. “It’s about ensuring Fenway Park continues to be a place of pride — not just for baseball, but for how it treats the people who make it special.”
“We continue to closely monitor the ongoing labor negotiations between Aramark and the union representing their employees,” a Red Sox spokesperson told FOS. “While the Red Sox are not a party to these discussions, we are hopeful that a fair resolution can be agreed upon quickly.”
An Aramark spokesperson said in a statement: “We are disappointed that the union chose to set a strike deadline, despite our ongoing willingness to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement that works for everyone. … In the event of a strike, we have contingency plans in place to ensure that fans will not encounter service interruptions.”
On Wednesday, Aramark announced it approved a quarterly dividend of 10.5 cents per share, while its shares are at all-time highs.
