Airport workers rally for higher wages, better benefits at NYC airports
QUEENS, New York (WABC) -- Airport workers from John F. Kennedy Airport and LaGuardia International Airport joined together to rally on Thursday in a plea to the Port Authority to raise their wages and improve working conditions.
The contract for the more than 10,000 airport service workers such as baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, and cleaners who are members of 32BJ SEIU is set to expire on June 30.
"The wages have to be up, because your rent is expensive and the vacation pay," said JFK Airport employee Sophia Brewster. "I need vacation from so that I could go to with my family to, you know, go see the world like other passengers."
They are demanding a raise in their minimum wage from $19/hour to $25/hour by 2030, as well as parity with New Jersey airport workers in their health and paid leave benefits.
"We went back from the brink of the pandemic where you guys were on the front line," 32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President Rob Hill added. "We've come out of that with these guys are now making a record profit."
In response to the rally, the Port Authority issued a statement saying it "has taken a leadership role in ensuring that airport workers at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark are among the highest paid in the nation. The Port Authority's action to expand the minimum wage policy in 2018 have culminated in a $19/hour wage for tens of thousands of airport workers beginning in September 2023."
The union represents roughly 10,000 airport workers, and organizers say several thousand of them are prepared to go on strike if their demands are not met by their contract deadline, and that could be particularly debilitating as we are expecting a record breaking summer holiday travel season.
Similar rallies were happening at Newark International Airport and at Miami International Airport.
READ MORE: Congestion pricing in New York City indefinitely postponed, official says
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
