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Hundreds of Chicago O’Hare workers — including baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, janitors and cabin cleaners — will strike on Nov. 29, part of the nationwide “Fight for $15” movement that seeks hourly wages of $15 per hour.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 is organizing the strike.
The action is one in a series of protests in 340 cities that will be undertaken that day by airport and fast-food workers aligned with Fight for $15. Strikes are to be held at nearly 20 U.S. airports, including Los Angeles International, Boston Logan, San Francisco International, Newark Liberty and Houston Bush, SEIU spokesman Mark Goumbri said. O’Hare, however, is the only airport in which workers will walk off the job to participate.
In an email to Travel Weekly on Tuesday, the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) said that it has been in discussion with airlines and doesn’t anticipate any disruption of service due to the strike.
“The CDA remains committed to maintaining a work environment that is safe and healthy for employees and expects the same commitment from its contractors and partners,” the department said.
A new study commissioned by the SEIU and undertaken by Washington, D.C.-based Lake Research found that a majority of rank-and-file employees at airports make less than $12 per hour.
The survey of 599 airport workers between Oct. 13 and Nov. 1 was administered online. Managers, supervisors and those who work for airlines weren’t included in the study.
“These airport employees working these jobs and making less than $12 an hour (on average) are not solely young, single, childless workers,” reads the study. “They are parents, they support full households and they have families that depend on their income.”
Sourse: travelweekly.com
