Fenway Park Workers Warn of Indefinite Strike Against Aramark [View all]

Source: Sportico

By Jason Clinkscales August 4, 2025 9:30am

Concession workers at Fenway Park may go back on strike—potentially indefinitely—if food and beverage vendor Aramark doesn’t offer a new labor contract.

On Wednesday, ahead of the Boston Red Sox’s series finale against the Houston Astros, Unite Here Local 26 will give Aramark a formal heads-up of a potential strike. It comes over a week after the unionized concession workers walked off the job on July 25 for three days during the series against the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

The two sides have been at odds since Dec. 31, 2024, when the previous contract expired. On June 15, while the Red Sox hosted the rival New York Yankees, Local 26 authorized a strike that could take place at any point during the regular season, with 95% of its members voting in favor. A few weeks later on July 23, the union gave Aramark 48 hours to offer a new contract before walking off the job; the company let the deadline pass, leading to the three-day strike.

Peter Dankens, a beer server who began working at the ballpark in 1976 as a 14-year-old porter, is the longest-tenured vendor at Fenway and a member of the union’s bargaining committee. In the last talks between the two sides prior to the July strike, Dankens said that he was taken aback by a comment from one of Aramark’s negotiators.


Unite Here Local 26 handed out baseball cards of Fenway's food and beverage workers to fans wanting to support them.
Illustration by Lorenzo Gordon

Read more: https://www.sportico.com/leagues/baseball/2025/fenway-park-concession-workers-indefinite-strike-aramark-1234865830/