PHL airport workers walk off the job

Several local elected officials joined dozens of Philadelphia International Airport workers who demonstrated Thursday morning to call for a higher wage and better working conditions.

The strike, which started with a wave of contracted PHL employees walking off the job Wednesday night, includes baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, cabin cleaners and other service workers.

Several hundred workers formed a picket line Thursday morning.

Lending their support to the fight were several Philadelphia City Council members, including Bobby Henon, Curtis Jones and Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, as well as Helen Gym, who will become a part of City Council in January. Mayor-elect Jim Kenney said he will join the workers for a rally at noon Thursday.

Many of the workers began receiving $12 an hour, Philly's minimum wage standard, earlier this year, but only after the city reached a lease agreement with the airport.

"It is an increase from what we had, but it is still not where we need to be at," said Montrell Groves, a baggage handler who was among the group gathered outside the airport Thursday morning. "Twelve is still not a living wage."

Groves said he receives the $12 rate, but several of the contractors still do not pay their workers that wage. He also points out many of the non-union workers are under intense pressure, worried they could lose their job at random.

"Basically we're trying to fight for $15 and a union," he said.

32BJ Service Employees International Union said the group has spent the last three years trying to organize, but the contractors often fired workers who have expressed interest in unionizing.

Representatives from PHL and American Airlines, which has a hub at the airport, have declined to comment on previous rallies by the contracted workers since they are not their employer.

To draw attention to their working conditions, the workers – some who began picketing as early as 5 a.m. Thursday – joined a national effort, dubbed "Strike 4 Families," that happened at airports in Chicago, Boston, New York, Newark, New Jersey, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to 32BJ SEIU.

After the nationwide day of demonstrations, the workers will return to their jobs Friday, the union said.

But Groves said the battle will continue "until we can get everything we're asking for."

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal