Thanksgiving Strike Threatened By O’Hare Airport Workers: Reports

A strike is brewing at O’Hare International Airport, as workers plot to draw attention to their struggle to get $15 an hour, according to multiple media reports.

“Airplane cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, janitors and wheelchair attendants, who are not in a union but are being organized by Service Employees International Union Local 1, took a strike vote over the past two days,” the Tribune reported. “‘Of the 500 votes cast, all but one were in favor of the strike’, said union spokeswoman Izabela Miltko-Ivkovich. There are 2,000 workers in those positions at O'Hare, she said.”

Hundreds of workers are reportedly expected to picket outside the airport and to walk in the terminals.

SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff said strikers “don’t expect to shut the airport down. That’s not what they’re trying to do,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The paper did add that Balanoff promised, “Oh, there will be disruption.”

“Airport workers surveyed for the strike vote were, on average, older than 30,” the Sun-Times said. “Most make less than $12 an hour.”

The impact of the strike remained a mystery with Thanksgiving just a week away, according to Fox.

“It wasn't immediately clear how such a strike would affect operations at O'Hare, which is one of the nation's busiest airports,” Fox reported. “Auto club AAA predicts it will be an especially busy Thanksgiving weekend of traveling.”

Photo via Chicago Department of Aviation