Contract workers at four East Coast airports staged a one-day strike on Thursday, citing abuses by Eulen America, the company that employs them. The workers, including baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, ramp workers, and wheelchair attendants, service American Airlines and Delta.
A recent investigation by CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede found that Eulen hires recent immigrants, pays them low wages for hours that fall short of full time, and has grueling working conditions, with workers lifting heavy bags in high heat and going without breaks or adequate hydration. Workers say they are transported to clean and supply airplanes in unsafe, cockroach-infested vehicles.
“A lot of the people are new to this country and they don’t know the laws or their rights, and then management takes advantage of that,” a worker told DeFede. A striking worker said his team isn’t provided with adequate cleaning supplies or staff to fully clean planes, and that supervisors are abusive to workers who speak little or no English.
Workers went on strike at New York’s JFK, Washington, D.C.’s National, and the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports. Politicians, including Democratic presidential candidates Cory Booker and Bill de Blasio, turned out to support them.
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Jobs at GM used to pay a family wage, but these days, most workers are more likely to be in two-income families—and for some, both incomes come from GM. O’Hara was able to retire, but his wife, also a Lordstown worker, has six years to go until she can access her pension. In other words, O’Hara explained, “even though I’m retired, I could end up having to move too.” Workers have plenty of other family concerns as well—elderly parents who rely on a working-age child, children in school, partners whose jobs are based in the community and harder to move.
“Some are waiting until the end of the school year; some families are separated now,” Brookbank said. “It has been a black cloud hanging over our heads. Usually the end of the school year is a fun time, and everybody is excited for summer, but this year it feels so much different—not only for the students, but for the staff, knowing that some of the students won’t be moving up to the next grade.” Three of her colleagues, she said, have family members at the plant. “One family is moving. Two are waiting it out.”
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