Some 2,000 Workers Protest against Low Wages at 7 Major US Airports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, as well as cabin and terminal cleaners took to the streets outside airports in US cities including New York, Chicago, Boston and others to protest low wages.
Around 2,000 contract workers went on strike in seven of the busiest airports in the United States late Wednesday, its organizers said.
“Intimidation, harassment and antiworker tactics don’t belong in airports,” the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) said, NBC News reported.
The baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, as well as cabin and terminal cleaners took to the streets outside airports in cities including New York, Chicago, Boston and others to dispute low wages, SEIU said on its website.
Some of its members earn as little as $6.75 per hour, according to union leaders, despite a nationwide push among pro-labor policymakers to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The demonstrators also took to the streets to uphold union rights without retaliation from employers or private contractors.
The strikes come a week ahead of Thanksgiving Day, the busiest travel period of the year in the United States.
