SFO Workers Vote to Authorize Strike
SAN FRANCISCO – Airline service workers at San Francisco International Airport voted overwhelmingly yesterday to authorize a strike at one of the busiest airports in the country. Workers who came out to vote on Thursday said that they were fighting against declining standards of service and security at the airports. Poverty-level wages and lack of access to affordable family health care are causing record turnover rates among workers and driving a race to the bottom in service and safety standards.
Workers called on airline giants such as American, Cathay Pacific and United to take a leadership role in calling for higher standards for service and security.
Workers employed by contractors Prime Flight and G2 Secure Staff voted yesterday to authorize a strike. Employees of a third contractor, Air Serv, are also in negotiations at the airport.
CRISIS IN AIRLINE SERVICE INDUSTRY
Low wages and lack of healthcare are driving a turnover rate among airport service workers that is as high as 50% per year in some jobs. This negatively impacts service and security at California airports. High turnover in the industry prevents security officers and other passenger service workers from getting the experience and training they need to adequately protect and provide quality services to airline passengers.
At SFO, airline service workers such as security officers, janitors, passenger service workers, cabin cleaners, ramp and cargo crew, on average, earn less than $12.00 an hour, putting them well below the $54,000 per year that the Economic Policy Institute says is necessary for a family of four to survive in California. In addition, none of the service workers have access to affordable family health care.
“We are the face of the airlines. We are the people that passengers see every day,” said Patrick Jack, who provides skycap services for American Airlines through his employer G2 Secure Staff and has worked at the airport for 19 years. “We are taking a stand for better service, better airport security, and for quality jobs.”
Barack Obama Issues Statement Supporting Improved Standards for Airport Workers, Passengers
CHICAGO, IL – Senator Barack Obama issued the following statement today in support of passenger service workers at airports throughout California:
“I stand with the airline service workers who temporarily went on strike at Los Angeles International Airport last week. The demands they’re fighting for aren’t unreasonable – access to health care, adequate training, proper equipment, wages that can support a family – they’re what America’s workers deserve. Their efforts send a strong signal that it’s not good for workers, passengers, or the industry when business fails to live up to its end of the bargain. [Read more]
LAX Workers Walk Off the Job
Airline service workers representing the 2,500 employees who provide passenger services at LAX walked off the job on August 28 at 1:30 PM in response to contractors’ civil rights abuses and failure to bargain in good faith.
Service contractors who provide cleaning, security, wheelchair assistance, and baggage handling services for airlines at LAX have refused to provide the quality jobs with access to affordable health care needed to ensure the highest quality services and security for airline passengers. [Read more]
LAX Passenger Service Workers Vote to Authorize Strike
Airline service workers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) voted overwhelmingly yesterday to authorize a strike at the nation’s fifth busiest airport. Workers said that they were fed up with declining standards of service and security at the airports. According to the workers, inadequate training, lack of proper equipment, poverty-level wages and lack of access to family health care are causing record turnover rates among workers and driving a race to the bottom in service and safety standards. [Read more]
Real-Life Family Reunion Brought to You by United Airlines
You have probably seen the latest United Airlines commercial at the 2008 Beijing Olympics: a woman says goodbye to her husband for a business trip, leaves her heart behind as a token of her love, only to be reunited with her husband, all thanks to United Airlines.
That’s nice.
Anita Cabral’s real-life, horrific story of a family reunion with United Airlines, on the other hand, is heart-breaking. [Read more]
LAX Workers to Hold Strike Vote
On Wednesday, 2,500 service workers at LAX will vote to determine whether to go on strike.
The workers, who have been negotiating their contract since May, are employed by airline subcontractors to provide passenger services to several major airlines, such as United, American, and Southwest. A Los Angeles Times story reports: [Read more]
Site Questions Airline Industry’s Subsidies, Inefficiencies and Demands for Loophole in Oil Speculation Legislation
As the U.S. airline industry attempts to use “oil speculators” to draw attention away from the chronically low passenger satisfaction rates and an array of new fees, a new online source, www.TheAirlineOilSpin.com was launched today to encourage the public to see through the industry’s spin on the issue.
The site is a project of the Reaching Higher Coalition, a growing alliance of community groups, passenger rights organizations, clergy, elected leaders, and airport workers who are committed to improving standards in the U.S. airline industry. TheAirlineOilSpin.com will function as an information source and forum to discuss and learn about the airline industry’s role in exacerbating their oil-related dilemmas, while at the same time benefiting from massive public subsidies.
While the airline industry has promoted multiple pieces of legislation that would place limits on some types of oil speculation, many of the bills supported by the industry include loopholes that allow the airlines themselves to continue speculating. At the same time, the industry has benefited from more than $8.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies since 2001, according to a recent report, Shortchanged, while passenger satisfaction levels and job quality standards for airline service workers have remained low. [Read more]
Have You Had a "Flightmare" Lately?
Polly Drew with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently gave a definition of “Flightmare” in her post:
Flightmares go well beyond the usual perils of airline travel such as crowded seats, lost luggage and food not fit for a dog. A flightmare usually involves lost money, lost opportunities (such as missing a graduation or a funeral) and lost dignity.
An example is her daughter’s recently trip from Boston to Denver with JetBlue, when her flight was canceled for 2 days and the airlines unwilling to provide hotel or food voucher.
Ms. Drew called Kate Hanni of the Coalition for Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights for advice. [Read more]
Seats Slid Aboard United Airlines Flight, Crushing Passengers Behind
In a bizarre incident on August 3, 2008, a row of seats slid back on a United Airlines flight, crushing passengers sitting in the row behind.
According to the news report: [Read more]
Tripso Post: After years of airline subsidies, how about a payback for taxpayers?
Steve Surjaputra at Tripso wrote about the airline subsidies report released by the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and Working Partnerships USA. Here are some of what he highlighted from the report: [Read more]