Boston- Dozens of airport workers and community supporters will protest the firing of a pro-union airport cleaner at Logan Airport’s Chapel on Thursday at 8:00a.m. demanding that JetBlue’s cleaning contractor stop retaliatory firings of a pro-union airport cleaners.
Last December, Logan Airport workers held a protest to demand that JetBlue, Delta and US Airways hold ReadyJet, their law-breaking contractor, accountable for its egregious health and safety record and for systematically terminating workers who engaged in lawful union activities. Soon after, one of the workers who participated in the protest and whose photograph was published in Metro Boston was fired.
In total, ReadyJet has fired nearly 1/3 of its workforce at Logan since January 2014.
ReadyJet, Inc., which provides cabin cleaning and other services to airlines at Logan including JetBlue, Delta, and US Airways, has one of the most egregious records at Logan. The company has been cited and fined for wage theft and health and safety violations, and is under investigation for charges of additional violations, including threats to workers and worker surveillance. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s investigation into other forms of wage theft at ReadyJet is ongoing.
Logan Airport workers are part of a broader movement of low-wage workers that, inspired by the victories in SeaTac, Seattle, and San Francisco, looks to create a pathway to a $15-an-hour living wage and union representation. Their fight has intensified in recent months. Thousands of workers in several different low-pay industries—including fast food, airlines, and health care—staged protests throughout the country on last December to demand a $15 an hour minimum wage, improved benefits, and collective bargaining rights, marking the two-year anniversary of the movement that has come to be known as the Fight for 15.
WHAT: Logan Airport Workers to Protest Firing of Pro-Union Cleaner
WHO: Airport workers, 32bj SEIU members and community supporters
WHERE: Logan Airport Chapel – Terminal C, 1st floor, Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, MA
WHEN: Thursday, January 15th 2015 at 8:00 AM
With 145,000 members in 11 states–including nearly 18,000 in Massachusetts–32BJ SEIU is the largest property services union in the country.
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