Furloughed Houston Airport Workers May 'Lose Everything' Over Coronavirus, Even with Bailout
Airports are a way out — out of town, but for many people, out of poverty.
Those routes to a better life, however, are shutting down along with the flights. Thousands of workers at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and hundreds of their counterparts at Hobby Airport have had hours cut dramatically or lost jobs altogether.
“I can’t sleep at night — How are we going to buy groceries?” said Anna Alvarez, for whom a job as a wheelchair attendant provided a lifeline after she and her children fled an abusive marriage some 20 years ago. “That’s what’s scary. I’m the one who’s going to have to figure out how to bail my family out.”
The new coronavirus has completely upended the airline industry, now waiting for the bailout, passed by Congress Friday, to be delivered from Washington. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump suspended travel from Europe to slow the spread of COVID-19.
More than 68,400 U.S. cases have been reported to the CDC, and the virus has killed at least 994. As travelers cancel trips en masse to avoid exposure to the virus, airlines have cuts routes and staff.
The near-empty planes and canceled routes not only affect airline employees. The impact ripples through the rest of the airport as airline service companies that provide food vendors, wheelchair attendants and baggage handlers cut workers, too.
“When airlines sneeze, airports catch a cold,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry research company. “The challenge is they all depend on airlines operating, and they don’t have business.”
‘I can’t pay for all this’
United Airlines, which holds nearly 60 percent of the Houston market, said last week it would cut dozens of routes from Bush airport as part of a long list cost of cutting measures, including slashing payments to vendors and contractors such as Swissport. The result: layoffs of airport workers employed by those companies.
United had threatened that unless Congress provided “sufficient government support” by the end of March, the company would reduce payroll “in line” with the 60 percent schedule reduction planned for April. United employs nearly 14,000 in the Houston area.
The $2 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress Friday is slated to provide to $25 billion in direct lending for airlines and $3 billion for airline contractor companies; the financial assistance is intended for the exclusive use of employee wages and salaries.
To be eligible for assistance, companies must agree to not to furlough or lay off employees, reduce pay rates or buy back shares. Some, such as the company that employed Quintina Moore-Caraway, who worked at IAH loading and unloading baggage, have already made payroll reductions.
“I’m about to lose everything because of this virus,” said Moore-Caraway, who supports a household of six with what was a $10-an-hour job. She was furloughed in mid-March by Swissport USA, an airline services company that provides operations such as offloading plane cargo at IAH.
Swissport, which is one of the largest airline services companies operating at IAH, confirmed it temporarily laid off at least 50 full-time employees at IAH earlier this month due to reduced flight volumes.
“During this time, their benefits will not lapse, and we expect to bring them back to work as soon as our flight volumes resume,” the company said. “We are taking every measure so that Swissport can weather this difficult period to support the return to business of our industry.”
Moore-Caraway has worked at the airport for nearly a decade, offloading cargo from the planes and loading bags to the luggage service. Her hours were reduced before flights were grounded, cutting her earnings from nearly $300 a week to about $200. But even that would be better than what she’s making now: nothing.
“I can’t pay for all this,” said Moore-Caraway, 46, speaking of her upcoming bills. “I have no help. If they do a bailout it should come to us.”
The bailout is coming, but it’s unclear whether it will come to her. Moore-Caraway was previously unemployed and exhausted her state benefits last year, meaning she is ineligible to re-apply for unemployment benefits from the state until July. She may qualify for disaster unemployment benefits but has not yet been approved.
By the time help comes from Congress and she’s able to get back to work, she worries it will be too little, too late. Rent and utilities come to about $850 a month, she said, and it’s due April 1.
“We need to survive out here,” Moore-Caraway said. “We’re the ones that keep this economy going.”
First exposed, first furloughed
For food and airline service employees at Houston’s airports, the health and financial implications of COVID-19 couldn’t be more pronounced. They’re the first to come into contact with travelers and cargo. They work with elderly at-risk populations.
Their jobs were the first to go when measures to control the spread of the virus wreaked havoc on the travel industry. Most of them live paycheck to paycheck.
“They are struggling to take care of themselves and their families,” said Elsa Caballero, president of SEIU Texas, a union that represents airport workers at IAH.
The union, in a statement, applauded the stimulus package that passed Friday, saying it will save thousands of jobs, and urged policymakers to do more to keep workers safe. SEIU points out that the bill does not include paid sick days for workers or free coronavirus testing.
Workers at Bush airport said that they were given some protections to prevent the spread of the virus, such as hand sanitizer, and occasionally, gloves.
But they do not have masks, and many are unable to adhere to social distance guidelines since their work requires them to be in close proximity with passengers, particularly those who assist passengers in wheelchairs. Caballero added that many of the airport workers don’t have health insurance.
“If they do get sick,” she said, “it could have very serious consequences,” for their health and their financial stability.
The plunge in air traffic and subsequent furloughs were devastating blows to Alvarez, the wheelchair attendant, and her family, whose household is entirely dependent on the airport (she and two of her daughters work there). IAH was a ticket to a better life, providing them with steady, honest jobs.
Alvarez’s two daughters, Rachel, 29, and Rebecca, 19, have all seen their weekly paychecks slashed by at least 85 percent. Alvarez worries they will soon all be out of work.
Her family’s rent in Greenspoint, north of Houston, is $1,180 per month. She and her daughters will also need to find a way to pay the electricity and cell phone bills and buy groceries for themselves and Alvarez’ 7-year-old granddaughter.
In the meantime, the phone lines to get help from unemployment benefits are backed up. Jobs have dried up as local officials force public gatherings and non-essential businesses to shut down to slow the spread of the virus.
It’s not the first time she has faced what feels like an impossible situation. As a young mother, Alvarez left an abusive marriage and raised five children on her own.
“I put them through school, I paid for prom, I did everything for them,” Alvarez said. “I pulled myself out of the hole I was in, and now I am going to have to dig myself out again.”
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