‘A landmark agreement’: Fenway concession workers ratify new contract with Aramark, citing wage and staffing gains

Kristina Evans, who has worked at Fenway Park for 19 years, joined other striking concession workers outside Fenway Park on July 25.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

After a year of negotiations, more than 1,000 concession workers at Fenway Park and the neighboring MGM Music Hall secured a new union contract that supporters say provides better wages, clearer staffing protocols, and stronger job protections against automation, such as self-checkout machines.

The five-year contract between services provider Aramark and the employees was ratified over the weekend by a vote of 246-35, according to a union spokesperson. It caps off a contentious bargaining process that included a three-day strike during a July homestand against the Los Angeles Dodgers, an unfair labor practice charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board, and calls of support from a range of heavy hitters, from the Boston City Council to Senator Bernie Sanders to former Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito.

Carlos Aramayo, the president of UNITE HERE Local 26, the union representing the employees, called the contract an “extraordinary settlement” that “fulfills all of the goals that we sought to fulfill.”

“It is really changing what it means to work at Fenway Park,” Aramayo said during a Monday press conference.

Aramayo said the contract “provides the largest wage increases in the history of Fenway Park, by a significant measure.” Nontipped employees, such as dishwashers, will get a $10 hourly raise over the next five years, while tipped employees, like beer sellers, will get a $5 raise over the length of the contract, with both groups also receiving retroactive pay.

Thomas Kochan, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, served as the mediator during negotiations. After helping the employees work through “a lot of pent-up emotions and anger” in the aftermath of the summertime strike, he said, he assisted in helping the parties figure out and communicate their priorities and bridge their gaps. Especially as artificial intelligence continues to encroach on workplaces, Kochan said the Fenway contract could be a blueprint for how employers can roll out technologies but still “cushion the adjustment” for potentially affected workers.

“I think this is a landmark agreement,” he said.

The wage changes bring Fenway up to par with other Major League Baseball ballparks, if not exceeding them, Aramayo said. In addition, gratuities for caterers will go up to 17 percent from 15 percent, and vendors — the peanut and hot dog hawkers who rove up and down the stands — will get a boost to their commission, to 15 percent from 14 percent.

“It’s not just about the higher wages, it’s about the respect, as well,” said Austin Petruzziello, who has been a vendor at Fenway for 10 seasons.

The contract also formalizes seniority provisions, giving first dibs on lucrative, high-traffic stands, like those behind home plate, to employees who have been with the ballpark longer.

Perhaps the thorniest sticking point in negotiations was Aramark’s use of self-checkout kiosks, which workers said threatened high-paying jobs, cut into their tips, and heightened the risk of underaged drinking, overserved patrons, and theft. (Over the summer, an Aramark spokesperson said the company does “not believe these [self-checkout] locations have led to any increase in the service of underage or visibly intoxicated patrons.”)

Under the new contract, the kiosks will stay put, but there will be one human beer seller and one ID checker for every two machines. Aramark will also be prohibited from adding more of the machines that sell both alcohol and food, Aramayo said, though they can add more of the machines that sell only beer.

“The tech will still be there so that fans can get their beer a little bit faster, but our members aren’t going to bear the cost of that,” Aramayo said. “I think that is a model that really should exist in any discussion of technology in the workplace.”

It was a compromise workers said they could live with, even if they had hoped for a full rollback.

“I wish they would have walked the machines out the door,” said Joe Baio, a Fenway barback and beer porter.

In a statement to The Boston Globe, a spokesperson for Philadelphia-based Aramark, which has overseen the Fenway concessions for about 30 years, said the company was “pleased to have reached an agreement in this process that works for both parties.”

“We remain focused on delivering an outstanding experience for the fans, customers and clients at Fenway and MGM now and into the future,” the spokesperson said.

Aramayo said the contract effectively resolves the union’s unfair labor practices charge, which included accusations of improper discipline, interrogation, and coercive actions.

A spokesperson for Fenway Sports Group, the owner of the Red Sox, did not respond to a request for comment from the Globe on Monday. (John Henry, the principal owner of Fenway Sports Group, also owns The Boston Globe.)

Shop steward Lauren Casello, a suite attendant and a year-round caterer at Fenway who has spent 22 seasons at the ballpark, said it was a relief to have a contract after a series of lengthy bargaining sessions.

“It was really good to just be done with it,” she said. “I’m really happy that it ended before the new year started.”

Keanu Austin, a cook for the seats in Fenway’s Aura Pavilion, said he was “in awe” when he found out the contract was ratified. For him, the agreement means he will be able to stay at Fenway for years to come, he said, without the threat of financial instability looming large.

“This is big,” he said. “This is what we needed years ago.”