Demonstrations or strikes were seen in many U.S. airports on Thursday as airport employees sought better wages and conditions.
Worker unions held demonstrations or formal strikes at 15 major airports.
Employees protesting held jobs such as cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, janitors, and security guards.
On-site rallies were held in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and Phoenix, while formal strikes that usually disrupt operations took place at Boston’s Logan International Airport, the Newark Liberty International Airport, and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
In Boston, Chicago, and Newark, workers were striking over unfair labor practices, among other demands, in airports managed by Swissport USA.
The company has denied any unfair labor practices and said in a statement that it followed labor regulations and said it offered workers competitive wages and benefits.
Many airport workers are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
SEIU president Mary Kay Henry said that airport workers have “sacrificed their health as essential workers, only to be treated anything but,” reported The Hill.
The time to clean planes has been reduced to a few minutes, the SEIU said in a release.
In New York’s La Guardia airport, workers unloading baggage were asked to clean the airplane cabins as well, it added.
“We get blamed for delays, but we’re only given a few minutes to clean and don’t have enough people to do the work,” Omar Rodriquez, a ramp agent and cabin cleaner at LaGuardia, said in a statement.
“No one wants to stay because the pay and benefits are not enough for what we do,” Rodriquez said.
Workers also gathered on Capitol Hill to call for a minimum wage of $15 and a benefits standard while supporting the “Good Jobs for Good Airports Act,” introduced in June by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
The protests come as the travel industry still struggles to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw airlines lose tens of billions of dollars in 2020 and 2021.