Charge describing heated clash comes just months after a coworker charged UNITE HERE Local 11 with inciting mob to demand termination

Los Angeles, CA (April 28, 2025) – An employee of Flying Food Group, a foodservice provider to commercial flights at Los Angeles International Airport, has hit the Unite Here Local 11 union with federal charges. The employee, Kenia Solano, maintains that union officials and agents have targeted her with harassment, intimidation, and even physical confrontation over her opposition to the union’s control. Solano filed her charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 21 with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

“Unite Here has been a terrible presence in our workplace. Our contracts are bad and union representatives treat me and anyone who disagrees even a little bit with the union like we are evil,” commented Solano. “The law is supposed to protect my right to disagree with the union and tell my coworkers that we are better off without it, but union bosses have not respected those rights at all and just keep harassing me.”

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes adjudicating disputes between management, union officials, and individual employees. NLRB officials are now reviewing Solano’s charge. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which governs labor relations in the private sector, forbids both union officials and employers from retaliating against employees who speak up for or against union control.

Unite Here Steward Intimidation Tactics Built Up to Physical Confrontation

Solano’s charges state that she has been a “vocal critic of the union since June 2024” and has held meetings or talked to other employees to persuade them of Unite Here’s bad influence on the workplace. “Because of her dissident activities, [Solano] has been the constant target of harassment, bullying, and retaliation or attempted retaliation by the Union through its agents and representative,” the charges read.

The charges go on to explain that Unite Here shop stewards are manipulating other employees into isolating Solano because of her opposition to the union, and have even told workers without evidence that Solano’s activities will end up costing them their jobs.

The hostility created by Unite Here union officials reached a boiling point in December 2024 when “[u]nion shop steward Esperanza Montes aggressively seized a…washing bin from [Solano] and violently threw it on the ground,” the charges state. Later that same day, after Solano reported the clash to her supervisor, the supervisor witnessed Montes again berate Solano over her dissent from the union.

“[Unite Here]…has attempted to restrain and coerce [Solano] in the exercise of her rights…and has retaliated against Charging Party for engaging in protected activity under the Act,” Solano’s charges argue.

Other Flying Foods Worker Reports Union-Incited Mob Demanded Her Firing

Unite Here Local 11 is already under federal investigation for violating workers’ rights at Flying Foods. Employee Esperanza Maciel filed charges against Local 11 in September 2024 after a union organizer illegally incited a mob of employees in an attempt to get her fired.

Solano’s and Maciel’s charges come as Foundation attorneys are aiding foodservice and hospitality workers across the country in challenging illegal tactics from Unite Here union officials, including threatening organizing tactics and refusal to respect workers’ rights to refrain from dues payment. Two such workers, Maria Uriostegui and Erika Chavez, hotel workers in Chicago and San Francisco respectively, were recently featured in a Foundation mini-documentary titled “The Reality of Union Bullying by UNITE HERE” which recently surpassed 1.6 million views on YouTube:

“Unite Here Local 11 officials may as well change the union’s name to ‘Unite Here or else,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While it’s bad enough that multiple employees from the same foodservice facility are reporting mob-like tactics against workers who oppose the union’s agenda, the truth is that Unite Here officials have a track record of using illegal and intimidating methods to coerce worker ‘support’ in countless hotels, stadiums, casinos, and other workplaces across the nation.

“Foodservice and hospitality workers nationwide should know that they have rights to end union membership, speak out against union bosses, and refuse to pay some or potentially all union dues without having to fear retaliation,” Mix added. “Foundation attorneys stand ready to help them exercise their rights.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.