Charlotte airport workers go on strike during Thanksgiving travel week

Workers who clean planes, remove trash and help with wheelchairs at Charlotte airport, one of the nation’s busiest, went on strike Monday during the busy Thanksgiving travel week to demand higher wages.

The Service Employees International Union called a strike early Monday, saying workers would demand “an end to starvation wages and respect at work during the holiday season.” The strike was expected to last 24 hours, union spokesman Sean Keady said.

ABM and Prospect Airport Services employees voted Friday to authorize a work stoppage at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the American Airlines hub. Both companies contract with American, one of the world’s largest carriers, to provide services such as aircraft cleaning, trash removal and assistance for passengers in wheelchairs.

Workers say they have previously complained that they cannot afford basic necessities, including food, shelter or car repairs. They described living paycheck to paycheck, doing jobs that keep planes flying on schedule. Most earn between $12.50 and $19 an hour, union officials said.

Those workers should earn between $22 and $25 an hour, the Rev. Glancy Redrick of the Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice said at a rally of the SEIU workers union across from the airport. She was joined by striking employees and civil rights activists, many of whom held up signs reading “Respect Black and Brown Workers” and “Respect, Protect, Pay Us.”

“We can’t live on the wages we are paid,” PRO salon cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said at the rally. “I can honestly say it’s hard for me every single day with my kids, working full time, but having to look my kids in the eye and sit there and say, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to have a house.’ Today.'”

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ABM said in a statement on Monday that it would take steps to minimize the impact of the strike on travellers. The company says there are avenues for employees to report concerns, including a nationwide hotline and “a general open-door policy for managers in our workplace.”

“We put employee safety and job satisfaction at the forefront of everything we do and are committed to resolving issues quickly,” ABM said.

Prospect Airport Services said last week that the company recognizes the seriousness of the possibility of a strike during the busy tourist season. He did not respond to a request for comment Monday. American Airlines also did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

Several hundred workers took part in stopping the work. About 800 workers have been hit by union demands for higher wages, but the exact number who have left is unclear, union spokeswoman Ana Tinsley said.

Timothy Lowe II, a wheelchair attendant, said at the rally that he has heard of co-workers being forced to sleep in their cars or U-Hauls because they can’t afford the rent. At the end of his shift, Lowe said, he has to figure out where to stay because he doesn’t have enough money to put down a deposit on his house.

“We just want everything to be paid for by the company that hired us to do a great job so they can make billions,” he said.

Charlotte airport officials said this holiday travel season is expected to be its busiest ever, with about 1.02 million passengers flying out of the airport between last Thursday and the Monday after Thanksgiving. Airport officials said in a statement Monday morning that they are “monitoring and actively engaging with all partners to ensure that terminal operations are not impacted,” noting that the striking workers are not employees of the city’s aviation department.

North Carolina union director Niecy Brown said at the rally that many people will be traveling through the Charlotte airport for Thanksgiving to spend time with family, but striking workers won’t get the same holiday experience because of low wages.

“They don’t have a desk to go to; they have nowhere to go,” she said.

In addition to walking off the job and holding rallies, striking workers plan to hold a luncheon in honor of the strike “instead of a Thanksgiving dinner, which many workers will not be able to afford later this week,” union officials said.