UNITE HERE Locals 11 and 2 File Complaint Calling on Alaska Air Group to Enforce Supplier Labor Code at Flying Food Group

Complaint cites enforcement actions by five government agencies against supplier on alleged wage theft, unsafe conditions, and violations of freedom of association

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On September 1, UNITE HERE Local 11 and UNITE HERE Local 2 filed a formal complaint asking Alaska Air Group to enforce its Supplier Code of Conduct against inflight caterer Flying Food Group (FFG), which provides catering services to Alaska subsidiary Hawaiian Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport and provided catering services to San Francisco International Airport until earlier this year.

The complaint asks Alaska to cease sourcing from FFG until the company has demonstrated compliance with Alaska’s code of conduct and corrected outstanding violations.

Alaska’s recent decision to replace FFG with an alternate provider at SFO makes it clear that Alaska has other caterers it could choose from, and we urge Alaska to select an alternate caterer at LAX.

Alaska’s code of conduct requires safe workplaces, lawful wages, freedom of association, and nondiscrimination. The complaint, which focuses on the LAX kitchen, states that five government agencies have cited FFG or found it in violation of workplace-safety, public-safety, wage, employment, or labor laws, and seven women have alleged they endured sexual harassment at work.

Safety has been a particular concern:

• Cal/OSHA cited FFG in 2023 for—among other hazards—failing to ensure that refrigerated rooms at its LAX-serving facilities could be opened from the inside; that citation was later affirmed in a Settlement Order. A Cal/OSHA complaint filed in January 2026 alleged that during a fire that month two workers were found inside a cold storage room whose entrance door had been locked shut from the outside, after more than 300 coworkers had evacuated. FFG denies that anyone was confined; one of the workers described to the San Francisco Standard how she banged on the door until a supervisor finally heard them.
  
• In May 2026, Cal/OSHA issued FFG six new citations—four of them “serious”—including one at each LAX-serving facility for failing to ensure that the cold storage room had a door openable from the inside, required warning signage, and an interior alarm. FFG has appealed the new citations; they are the second and third time the company has been cited for the same cold-storage hazard.
  
• A new August 5 Cal/OSHA complaint separately alleged that workers were exposed to a range of unsafe or unsanitary conditions at FFG’s LAX kitchen. According to the unions' complaint, a Cal/OSHA compliance officer informed them on August 7 that FFG had refused consent for inspections; inspectors were admitted only later. The sanitation allegations—which include an instance in which a worker was directed to clean dishes covered in decomposed food that she described as infested with maggots and mold, without a respirator or mask—were reported by the New York Times and CNN. FFG told CNN it was reviewing the allegations.

In other areas of Alaska’s code of conduct:

• The complaint also describes a pattern of wage theft allegations spanning a decade, with a City of Los Angeles agency citing FFG or its onsite contractors at least six times during its current airport license.
  
• In a March 2026 settlement with the National Labor Relations Board, FFG admitted that it solicited signatures for a petition to remove the union and interrogated employees about their union sympathies. The settlement required FFG to pay $50,000 to a worker leader whose discharge the NLRB complaint alleged was unlawful, and to post a notice containing more than a dozen pledges not to engage in specified conduct. Numerous charges remain pending.
  
• The complaint states that seven current and former FFG workers have filed charges with the California Civil Rights Department alleging unwanted sexual advances, touching, and groping by a supervisor. Three have filed additional complaints alleging retaliation after speaking publicly. The charges remain pending.
  

Local 11 says it contacted Alaska representatives on three occasions since December 2025 but received no acknowledgment, agreement to meet, or information about steps Alaska had taken to ensure compliance with the Code.

UNITE HERE Local 11 represents more than 35,000 workers in airports, hotels, restaurants, sports arenas, convention centers, and other venues throughout Southern California and Arizona.

UNITE HERE Local 2 is the hospitality workers’ union in San Francisco, San Mateo County, and the East and North Bay, representing over 15,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, tech cafeterias, sports stadiums, and at SFO and OAK.