U.S. airport workers stage one-day strike

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport workers, some of whom are cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, ramp workers, wheelchair attendants, janitors, and other passenger service workers employed by two airline service contractors, Eulen America and AirServ, picket together on Nov. 19, 2015 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, ramp workers, wheelchair attendants, janitors and other workers struck airports in Boston, Chicago O’Hare, New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia, New Jersey’s Newark, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

American, Delta, United and JetBlue airlines told Reuters the strike didn't disrupt flights.

But workers and labor experts said the protests drew attention in the industry and among travelers a week before Thanksgiving.

Art Wheaton, a senior lecturer at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said the airline industry doesn't need bad publicity during the holidays and amid concerns about terrorism.

“The strike by the contract workers has serious implications," Wheaton said. “By paying airport workers less than fast food workers in New York and other states, the airline industry limits the quality of applications being received and opens the door to abuse."

Purple-shirted workers from other airports including Washington’s Reagan National, Seattle and Los Angeles attended a Capitol news conference with lawmakers and officials fromService Employees International Union.

Jean Timmer of Brooklyn, who cleans plane cabins for a contractor at JFK, said $10.10 per hour without health insurance isn’t enough to raise his daughter. Airport workers should be paid $15 per hour, he said.

“We’ve got family to take care of, rent to pay,” Timmer said. “We sacrifice a bill for a bill just to make ends meet – not paying a light bill today so I can pay rent.”

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who lives a half-mile from Timmer, said airport and airline jobs used to pay well before the companies hired contractors with lower wages that yields higher turnover.

“You knew you had to work hard, but you could get paid a good wage – you could live a life with dignity,” said Schumer, who brought JFK worker Shareeka Elliott to the State of the Union in 2014. “No more.”

U.S. airport workers stage one-day strike