Yvette Stephens lamented Thursday that for the last 16 months, she hasn’t been able to to afford health care to cover injections she needs for her multiple sclerosis — treatment that can cost up to $1,000 a month.
Stephens said she was denied Medicaid because she got a raise and made just $2 over the eligibility threshold. And like many of her fellow workers at Newark Liberty International Airport, she said, getting health coverage through her employer has been too expensive.
“I live with multiple conditions, but without health care, what can I do?” asked Stephens, a security officer at the airport who said she also needs treatment for a lump in her throat.
Stephens recounted her story just before Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law requiring subcontracted workers at the Newark airport and its train station to receive a pay boost and quality health benefits.
“Today, I am finally, finally, finally — F-I-N-A-L-L-Y! — finally full of hope for me and for all of us,” Stephens said during a ceremony at the airport to champion the law, known as the Healthy Terminals Act. “Having the HTA means we will no longer have to choose between feeding our families and taking care of our health.”
The law (S989) affects more than 10,000 workers at the airport, including baggage handlers, guards, cleaners, and food service workers.
Officials said it will increase the workers’ pay rates from $16.20 an hour to $19 an hour by September 2023 and require employers to cover $4.54 per hour in health care benefits.
It requires subcontracted workers at the airport be paid wage rates that are at least the ones set under federal prevailing wage law for building service employees. It also requires they receive supplemental benefits equal to those designated by the U.S. Commissioner of Labor.
The bill passed the Democratic-controlled state Legislature largely along party lines earlier this year — 23-12 in the Senate and 47-25 in the Assembly.
Murphy, a Democrat, was joined Thursday by both state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D- Gloucester, and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D- Middlesex. They said the law is especially crucial in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“When you’re going to work every day to do your jobs in a global transportation hub, in the midst of a global pandemic, quality and affordable health care becomes much more than just a benefit. It becomes a basic right,” Murphy said. “All we are saying with this law is that every worker deserves the ability to afford a health care plan that works for them and their families.”
State Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, D- Union, a main sponsor of the measure, called this “a victory for black, brown, and immigrant workers who have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic since Day 1, sanitizing planes, cleaning terminals, securing their airports, handling important shipments of PPE and supplies.”
Added Sweeney: “This is an awesome day for workers.”
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Brent Johnson may be reached at [email protected].
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