Craig Lassig/EPA
Striking Northwest Airlines workers waved picket signs at passing planes during a 2005 protest outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
New York City having become a tale of two cities is not just a campaign slogan; it is the reality so many New Yorkers are facing.
We’ve all heard the stories of fast food workers who are fighting for fair wages and the right to join a union without retaliation. Car wash workers at a growing number of car washes have successfully formed unions with the backing of clergy, community, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and other elected officials.
But right here in Queens, workers are struggling at major public institutions — our airports — to get fair wages and the right to form a union.
Airlines are subcontracting security, cleaning and other work to contractors who pay poverty wages — significantly less than those directly employed by the airlines and the Port Authority.
These are the workers who help travelers, clean our airplanes and provide security at airports. They are paid as low as $ 7.25 per hour, lack health insurance, paid sick leave and other basic benefits.
A recent report by the Women of Color Policy Network — Above Board: Raising the Standards for Passenger Service Workers at the Nation’s Busiest Airports — found that 40-hours-a-week in these jobs at the New York-region airports is not enough to provide for families, with a significant percentage forced to work additional jobs, seek increased hours and rely on public assistance benefits.
The fact that so many of these workers come from Southeast Queens and the areas surrounding the airports only adds insult to injury, leaving our local neighborhoods without real economic benefits as a result of our proximity to the airport.
Contractors like Airway Cleaners, AirServ, Primeflight and Aviation Safeguard are making profits on the backs of our neighbors – hardworking men and women who keep our airports safe and clean every day.
The borough of Queens — and all of New York City — cannot stand by while this continues. Where there is an opportunity to correct an injustice, we must take action.
These hardworking New Yorkers deserve a living wage and the right to join a good union. It is well within the power of these contractors to treat employees like Diana Smith, a 56-year-old woman who makes $ 7.90 an hour cleaning JFK Airport’s Terminal 8, with dignity and respect.
If the contractors fail to act, the Port Authority has the opportunity to set a base level of standards that will ensure workers at our region’s main airports have better working conditions while helping to build a stronger middle class.
As a community, we will stand strong with airport workers until they receive what they deserve – the fairness that allows them to live in our city and provide for their families.
Donovan Richards is the councilman for New York City’s 31st Council District in Queens, representing the neighborhoods of Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens and Far Rockaway.
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