Hundreds of airline catering workers shut down a major entrance to LAX on Monday, spilling onto Century Boulevard. The protest was led by cooks, dishwashers, drivers, and flight coordinators from Flying Food Group, a company with a long and troubling record when it comes to labor conditions. Workers say they are done risking their health for a company that has shown again and again it will only change when forced to. They want a new contract, safe working conditions, and for the City of LA to finally hold this company accountable.

Flying Food Group’s workers say they have faced years of unsafe and illegal conditions, including burst pipes, chemical burns, and malfunctioning fire alarms. In 2023, Cal/OSHA issued multiple citations, with one egregious example being an incident in February in which FFG management intentionally obstructed emergency exits to prevent workers from joining a protest. That same year, the state labor commissioner cited Flying Food Group $1.2 million for violating California’s COVID recall law by refusing to rehire laid-off veteran workers. Some employees had worked there for more than a decade, only to be passed over for less experienced new hires. The company has also been cited for wage violations by the city’s Bureau of Contract Administration and for dangerous truck maintenance by the California Highway Patrol.

These are not new issues. In 2015, the City of Los Angeles ordered Flying Food Group to pay back wages to 271 workers after determining the company had violated the city’s Living Wage Ordinance. Flying Food responded by suing the city. It took two more years and a class action settlement before more than a thousand workers received $4.15 million in unpaid wages. The company sued the city again in 2023 to try to block further enforcement of labor standards. At every step, the company has resisted accountability, even as government agencies continue to find violations.

Through all of this, the workers have fought back. In April 2023, they went on a 28-day strike. They filed safety complaints, unfair labor practice charges, and recall claims. They formed picket lines and marched on City Hall. They returned to work, but the problems remained. That’s why they took to the streets again this week.

Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes LAX, showed up at the airport not to speak with workers or address their concerns, but to make an Instagram post scolding them for disrupting traffic. In the post, she warned that workers would strand families, create unsafe conditions, and jeopardize airport operations. She urged travelers to leave early and praised airport police, but said nothing about said the years of safety complaints, unpaid wages, and fire hazards that led these workers to walk out, or Flying Food Group’s long track record of legal violations.

Park’s selective outrage is even sharper when set against her silence on what Los Angeles World Airports is actually planning for the region. LAWA has approved a billion dollar elevated roadway expansion that even its own reports admit will increase vehicle traffic and cause environmental harm that cannot be mitigated. The project will stretch across more than a decade, clogging the Westside with construction, detours, and noise. Transportation experts warn it will undermine transit investments and move the city backward on its climate goals. This contrast really captures the city’s priorities. For airport workers, the real unsafe conditions are inside their own workplace, not in a brief protest outside it. And the real threat to mobility is a billion dollar road expansion, not a group of employees standing together to improve their working conditions.