Mark Kelly joins ASU Aramark workers' picket over wages, safety

Workers at Arizona State University said their kitchens had become dangerously hot, with temperatures reaching as high as 113 degrees, as U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly stepped onto a picket line and backed Aramark employees demanding higher pay and safer conditions.

Kelly joined the protest at ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus on April 9, then sent a letter to Aramark the same day that pressed the company to answer long-running complaints over wages, benefits and workplace safety. The senator’s letter, addressed to Aramark labor relations vice president Oliver Zeidler and copied to ASU President Michael Crow, cited allegations that workers were surveilled while taking part in a lawful strike or picket and that a supervisor threatened employees after they raised concerns about conditions at the Downtown Phoenix Panda Express.

The dispute has been building since the workers’ contract with Aramark expired in August 2025. New negotiations began in October, and workers and supporters have kept up public pressure ever since, including protests in the fall, a Jan. 15 picket at the start of the spring semester and a multi-campus strike on Feb. 18. The workforce includes baristas, cashiers, cooks, dishwashers and servers who say they are trying to win a contract that matches the cost of living in Phoenix and Tempe.

“People are getting priced out ... and it's why it’s so necessary for there to be significant wage and benefit increases in this one,” labor union attorney Maxwell Ulin said.

Heat has become one of the sharpest points of conflict. On March 26, workers at the ASU Downtown Phoenix Panda Express walked out over alleged unsafe indoor temperatures and filed a complaint with the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health. The union said about 11 Aramark employees work at that location. Kelly’s letter said workers reported dizziness, nausea and at least one hospitalization for dehydration. Aramark told 12News it was working with ASU on the heat issue and said employee safety remained its top priority.

The picket also brought fresh attention to the broader labor fight inside campus dining, where workers have filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board and are pushing for stronger staffing and safety protections. For restaurant workers in a vendor-run dining hall or outlet, the ASU fight is familiar: hot stations, short staffing, low wages and management pressure can collide fast. At ASU, that collision now has a U.S. senator standing beside the workers and asking Aramark to answer point by point.