ORLANDO, Fla. — Food service workers at Orlando International Airport now say they are getting word they will get their old jobs back.
Hundreds of workers for the largest concessionaire, HMSHost, were furloughed and eventually laid off after the pandemic tanked business at the airport.
Some workers said they weren’t offered their positions back when the food service businesses started posting jobs openings. But on Friday, they received emails and phone calls offering them their old job back.
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Kourtney Monroe worked at the Outback Steakhouse at the airport for 8 years.
“I absolutely loved being there,” Monroe said. She said it was one the one best jobs she’s ever had.
“You know, I’ve met people from around the world. Literally around the world,” she said.
But when the pandemic hit, suddenly she and her co-workers with HMSHost, that contracts with popular restaurants at Orlando International Airport, were furloughed, and she was eventually laid off.
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Some workers who tried to unionize prior to the pandemic expressed concern after they claimed new workers were hired before former employees were offered their old jobs back.
Last week, the airport board decided concessionaires must report how many employees are re-hired as part of a condition for $19 million in COVID-19 relief.
An HMSHost job fair set for Friday was cancelled, and workers said they were devastated. But then emails and phone calls came offering them their old jobs back.
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HMSHost said it is an advantage to hire back workers who already know what they’re doing, that it has been in the process of inviting former employees back for the past three to four weeks, and the change had nothing to do with last week’s board meeting.
HMSHost said it plans to offer all previously employees work back when financially possible, but said they have seen in other places some people don’t want to return to work.
Cox Media Group
