Nationwide Airport Strike: Will It Affect Thanksgiving Travel?

If you’re among the thousands of commuters planning to fly this Thanksgiving, you might want to double-check your flight status before leaving home.

Workers at several airports across the nation walked off the job on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, protesting alleged low wages and harsh working conditions.

It is unclear how long the proposed strike might last, or the effect that it might have on airport operations, NorthJersey.com reported.

However, the main organizer behind the strike - the 32BJ chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – stated that labor actions are expected to continue at least through Thursday.

The union explains the reasons for the strike on its website:

“While airlines across the country have been making record profits, the airport workers who make these profits possible are struggling to survive in jobs that pay poverty wages, provide little to no affordable health care, and few paid days off. Like fast food workers, who they have supported during similar national strikes, airport workers have been organizing for the past three years and have committed to do whatever it takes to win $15 and union rights. As airport workers have been organizing for better lives, their demands for better treatment have been met with illegal repression. To expose the illegal treatment that they are forced to endure at our nation’s airports, thousands of airport workers across the country have decided to go on strike.”

The 32BJ chapter of SEIU represents more than 145,000 property service workers in the United States, according to the union’s website.

HOW DOES THE STRIKE AFFECT TRAVEL?

U.S. Airlines American, United, Delta and JetBlue said they do not expect the action to impact their operations because pilots, flight attendants and in-house baggage handlers are not involved in the strike, Reuters reported.

“We did not see an impact to our normal operations,” a spokesman for United Airlines told ABC News. “We are ensuring our vendors have contingency plans in place to continue to serve our customers.”

Port Authority officials made no specific mention of union activity, but issued the following alert on their website at 8:53 a.m. on Thursday:

“Weather conditions at LGA Airport have caused flight disruptions. Check with your airline to determine the status of your flight.”

The Port Authority alert about “weather conditions” was repeated at 9:13 a.m.

STRIKES ACROSS AMERICA

The nationwide strike – which labor organizers are calling the first of its kind in the United States – is affecting Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and JFK International airports, in addition to airports in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Fort Lauderdale.

In Newark, labor actions involved about 100 airport employees who clean United Airlines planes for subcontractor PrimeFlight Aviation Services.

Several workers continued to strike outside the airport on Thursday after beginning the action on Wednesday night, showing up to form picket lines and chant.

The striking Newark workers earn about $10.10 per hour, a minimum wage implemented by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and JFK International.

• See related article: Newark Airport Workers Plan To Strike, Will Join Others Nationwide

In a Thursday letter to the NY Daily News, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka supported the workers’ action and called for the Port Authority of NY/NJ to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour for contracted employees at the three airports.

“Eighteen months ago, the Port Authority took the first steps toward drafting a comprehensive plan for good wages, benefits and improved working conditions for what would ultimately be 30,000 contracted airport workers at Newark, JFK and LaGuardia airports,” the two mayors wrote.

“The PA promised to present this plan by Sept. 30, 2014. On Oct. 22, over a year past its self-imposed deadline, and after months of broken promises, airport workers packed a PA meeting, calling for the plan to be brought to a vote… Instead, all the workers got was silence and inaction.”

“We understand that change takes time, but this continued delay is unacceptable to the thousands of men and women who clean the terminals and airplane cabins, handle baggage, provide wheelchair assistance and enforce security at the three metro area airports,” the mayors added.

At the other airports involved in the strike, the story was similar, according to news reports.

• Non-TSA security workers at O’Hare International Airport – who perform tasks such as checking the IDs, guarding doors and patrolling terminals – joined the strike for a one-day show of solidarity on Thursday, demanding a $15 an hour living wage and protesting against what they are calling “unfair labor practices” by their employer, Universal Security.
• In Philadelphia, striking workers included baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, sky caps and others employed by airport subcontractors including PrimeFlight, Prospect and McGinn Security.

Photo caption: Contracted workers at Newark Liberty Airport protest during a strike on Wednesday night.

Photo via 32BJ SEIU via Facebook