Hospitality workers at the third-largest convention center in the country achieved major gains this week, setting a new standard for hospitality workers in the Central Florida region.
Restaurant, concessions and banquet workers at the Orange County Convention Center, who are directly employed by the multinational company Sodexo, won a new contract that delivers an $18 minimum wage for hourly food service workers this year and a $3 raise for workers above the minimum, retroactive to August 2022.
It's the highest minimum wage set for hospitality workers in Central Florida, per the workers' union, Unite Here Local 737.
“We have won a new standard for hospitality workers in Central Florida,” Angie McKinnon, the chief negotiator and financial secretary treasurer for Unite Here Local 737, said of the tentative agreement on Wednesday.
Previously, the minimum wage for Sodexo workers was just $13 an hour, far below the estimated living wage for single working adults in Central Florida, let alone working families with children or other dependents to feed, shelter and care for.
The pay raises offered in the contract, described as “life-changing” by McKinnon, rise above the standard set by Disney World in 2018, back when a coalition of unions there won a $15 minimum wage for thousands of low-wage Disney workers. That fully took effect in 2021 and prompted other major tourism employers such as Universal and SeaWorld to also increase employee pay.
The sentiment among convention center...
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