Low-wage airport workers end one-day work stoppage

Baggage handlers at Philadelphia International Airport ended a one-day work stoppage early Friday morning.

They were accompanied back to work by state Sen. Vincent Hughes and City Council members Kenyatta Johnson, Blondell Reynolds Brown and Maria Quiñones–Sanchez.

Council passed a resolution late last week “emphatically” urging the airport to pursue all available and lawful alternatives to facilitate a resolution to the labor dispute that is fair to all parties.

PrimeFlight worker Misha Williams said she was unjustly fired recently after she lead a delegation of workers to protest low wages, including recent actions to secure the wage hike to $10.88 per hour mandated by Philadelphia voters.

Airport workers allege that PrimeFlight, the airline subcontractor that handles baggage handling for US Airways, has targeted and coerced workers for engaging in union activity.

Calls and e-mails on Friday for comment from the company were not immediately returned.

Williams said that she was employed by PrimeFlight as a supervisor until last week before being terminated.

“I have been speaking out for a union for PrimeFlight workers at the airport for the past year because we need better wages, benefits and a voice on the job,” Williams said while giving public testimony before City Council. “A little over a month ago, 30 of my co–workers and Councilman Kenyatta Johnson went to PrimeFlight’s office to ask about the $10.88 raise that voters supported this spring. Six months after voters passed the wage hike, we have yet to see a dime.

“I stood my ground about what I had done to stand up for higher wages and our need for a union.”

Williams then said another week passed before PrimeFlight terminated her, claiming it was over the disagreement Williams had with a co–worker. She believes she was fired for support of the union.

Johnson said he was particularly touched by Williams’ plight.

“What these airport workers are doing today is not easy and they’re clearly not taking this lightly,” Johnson said. “Misha Williams lost her job after lawfully petitioning PrimeFlight for higher wages for herself and co–workers. She deserves our support in city council and so do all of her co–workers.”

Williams is far from the only airport employee suffering under the effects of poor pay.

Anthony Reynolds, a cabin cleaner for Prospect, another airport contractor, said he has worked for the airport for nearly a year and makes $8.50 an hour with no affordable benefits or sick days.

Reynolds said his duties include cleaning bathrooms, removing trash, wiping down tray tables and cleaning seat cushions.

“I had held out hope that the $10.88 wage raise would have come through by now. Instead, I face another holiday season on poverty wages,” Reynolds said. “I am 51-years-old and I have five children. It absolutely kills me to not be able to give them what they want this time of year. My Thanksgiving table should not be empty but I fear that it will be. We fear that we will continue to struggle every holiday in the conceivable future until we change things at PHL.”

Reynolds said he and the striking workers were at the point “where we have little to lose” and has passed out leaflets, held meetings, had delegations to the owners and staged rallies, to no avail. Worse, Reynolds said, is that some airport workers have even been met with bullying, intimidation and coercion from their employers.

“When the airport subcontractors refuse to listen to us and refuse to respond to our concerns, we may be forced to take more drastic action in the future,” Reynolds said. “Our futures and our communities are worth fighting for.”

Service Employee International Union Local 32bj Pennsylvania Director Gabe Morgan said in recent years, most airlines have adopted the practice of routinely contracting out most of its low–paid positions to the lowest bidder.

This is part of the airlines’ strategy to maximize profits and minimize responsibility for its workforce, noting the effect that practice has on the more than 2,000 airline–subcontracted workers at the airport, including wheelchair attendants, security guards, baggage handlers and many others are struggling to make ends meet with poverty wages and few, if any, meaningful benefits.

SEIU is supporting the workers, the resolution and ongoing efforts to raise the minimum wage.

“Low wages and poor working conditions have elevated the risk of strikes and other worker disruptions at PHL due to labor disputes that have not means for being addressed,” Morgan said. “Recently, unrest at the Philadelphia International Airport has been mounting following concerns raised by workers over the adequacy of workplace protective safeguards and potential exposure to infectious diseases.”

The work–action and passage of the resolution comes as council’s committee on commerce and economic development passed a bill that amends the Philadelphia Code by requiring ground handling service providers under service contracts with air carriers, including subcontractors providing such services, who are operating at the airport to secure labor peace agreements to minimize the risk of service disruptions and lost revenue to the city.

Source: The Philadelphia Tribune