Sterling, Va.- On Wednesday, hundreds of contracted service workers at Dulles airport will walk off the job on strike to protest mistreatment from their employer, Huntleigh USA Corporation. Contracted service workers who are baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants and customer service agents at Dulles International Airport yesterday announced their decision to walk off the job on strike during the holiday season.
"We voted to strike because we want to improve our lives. We will not let Huntleigh stand in the way. We are tired of poor conditions and mistreatment," Hundae Atnafu, a Huntleigh worker at Dulles.
Dulles workers have gone on strike against the Irving, Texas- based company before. Huntleigh workers have walked off the job on strike twice at both Reagan National and Dulles Airports. The predominantly immigrant workforce is entering their third year of a campaign for $15 an hour and a union, despite a hostile political environment under President Trump.
“Huntleigh airport workers work very hard to ensure that travelers have a safe and clean airport,” said Jaime Contreras, Vice President of 32BJ SEIU. “They are not taking the decision to strike lightly. They’re doing this so that they can build better lives for themselves and their families.”
Joined by local elected officials, clergy and other supporters, the contracted airport workers announced Monday that they would strike some time over the holiday season.
"As thousands of residents in the DMV head home for the holidays, we must not forget the airport workers who make the airport run and can barely support their families. Huntleigh should care about their employees who are fighting for a better life,” said Virginia State Rep. Jennifer Boysko.
"I represent Dulles airport in the Virginia State Senate. It is unconscionable that we have airport workers earning poverty wages in the richest county in the nation in the shadow of the Capital,” said Virginia Senator Jennifer Wexton.
“Here at Dulles airport the fight for justice continues so that everyone who works here has dignity on the job earns a decent living,” said Virginia State Rep-elect, Lee Carter.
Because Huntleigh workers can be fired at any time, through no fault of their own, they continue their fight for basic rights and protections that only a union can provide. Although it admitted no wrong doing, the Huntleigh USA Corporation has recently settled a National Labor Relations Board Complaint, after 32BJ filed charges with the NLRB alleging that Huntleigh fired a wheelchair attendant in retaliation for her participation in a 2016 strike to protest the company’s poverty wages.
After nearly five months without a paycheck, Dulles International Airport, Swartha Tujare, 67-year old immigrant has finally won her job back as a wheelchair attendant after her unlawful firing, as well as back-pay and interest from December of 2016.
Contracted workers at DCA and Dulles have received support from numerous high-level leaders including DNC Chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Virginia Governor-elect Ralph Northam, Virginia Congressmen Gerry Connolly, Tom Perriello and Don Beyer, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Virginia Delegates Alphonso Lopez and Jennifer Boysko as well as Actor and anti-poverty activist, Danny Glover.
Airport workers across the country are taking action and winning. By sticking together, speaking out for change, and going on strike, contracted airport workers have won wage increases in Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, Minneapolis, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, and Fort Lauderdale. Today, more than 118,000 airport workers nationwide have either received wages increases or other improvements, including health care, paid sick leave and worker retention policies. More than 23,000 airport workers have won a union voice with SEIU.
Thirty years ago airlines began subcontracting out work that used to be done by union workers. This low-bid subcontracting system has left subcontracted airport workers in poverty and resulted in high turnover and short staffing in airport jobs. Airport workers at Dulles and National join a growing movement of airport workers across the country protesting the low-bid contracting system that continues to perpetrate a race to the bottom for workers and passengers alike.
"Management will often do everything in their power to create divisions amongst workers and keep them intimidated. When we come together, we realize that this is a myth that those in power created...to keep us out of power,” said Reverend Graylan Hagler. “When we come together, we come across all divisions and realize we are truly linked up together in the fight for justice.”
