Airport Workers Rally at JFK for Improved Healthcare, Increased Wages

Photo courtesy SEIU Local 32-BJPhoto courtesy SEIU Local 32-BJ

NEW YORK (SBN) —City and state elected officials join workers for a rally at J-F-K Airport today to demand a new contract and health care for 10-thousand workers at three major airports. They are baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, cabin cleaners and security officers – essential workers who keep the airports running. Contracts with most of the 23 companies they work for at J-F-K, LaGuardia and Newark airports expired on April 1st. A new contract must adhere to the Healthy Terminals Act, a recent law passed in New York and New Jersey, requiring that airport workers receive an additional four-dollars-54-cents an hour toward health care. SBN correspondent Steve Lubetkin reports that the union says contract talks have stalled.