What: Press call to announce results of airport workers’ contract negotiations
When: December 13, 6pm EST
Where: Via phone. Register for the press call: http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/2EBOXO4BDPLQ6
Who: Airport workers will be joined by elected officials and union officials.
Why:
After 4 years of fighting for higher wages, union rights and respect on the job, subcontracted airport workers from New York and New Jersey are just one day away from the settlement deadline for their first-ever union contract. In May of this year, half the airport workers in the region began the first-ever contract negotiations with 11 airline subcontractors who had recognized 32BJ SEIU as their union representative through the course of their campaign. Airport workers gave their employers a December 13th deadline to come to a contract agreement or face the largest airport strike the region has seen during the course of the campaign.
If talks stall, airport workers plan to hold strike votes for nearly half the subcontracted workers at JFK, LGA and EWR and would most likely decide to strike during the Christmas or New Year’s travel periods.
If the contract is settled, New York and New Jersey airport workers will become one of the first groups of workers to win the union part of their call for “$15 and a union.” The contract will be the first of its kind in the region and one of the largest recent union contract wins for low-wage workers. Covering more than half of the subcontracted airport workers at JFK, LGA and EWR airports, the potential contract would establish workplace rights for both New York and New Jersey workers and would provide a framework for unionizing subcontracted airport workers nationwide.
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With 155,000 members in eleven states and Washington, D.C., including 70,000 in New York City, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.