NYC-area airport workers protest ‘poverty wages’ during Thanksgiving week
JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Airport employees ‘fed up’
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Employees of private contractors at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports are holding protests during Thanksgiving week to bring attention to their “poverty wages and poor working conditions.”
The crisis, workers say, is caused by low-bid subcontracting by airlines of security, cleaning, baggage handling and other functions at to private contractors, who pay significantly less than those directly employed by the airlines and the Port Authority.
According to a report released by the University of California at Berkeley on November 4, airport workers saw their real hourly wages fall by an average of 15 percent from 2002 to 2012. According to the report, one out of three airport workers live in poverty and receive taxpayer assistance.
