“We are ready to fight for our rights,” says Legesse Woldeargay, a 70-year-old contracted employee working two jobs at National Airport.

He was one of more than 150 contract workers at DCA who went on strike for 24 hours, starting at 11 p.m. on Wednesday night.

He has worked for contractor Eulen America since June 2011, and been at DCA for a decade. Woldeargay has made $8 an hour for the past five years, a $2 an hour pay cut when the previous contractor, Aircraft Service International Group, lost their contract. He hasn’t seen a raise since he began working for Eulen.

Some DCA workers make even less—according to the SEIU, airport workers make as little as $6.75 per hour without employer-paid health care.

Woldeargay and the other workers are organizing with the SEIU as part of Airport Workers United, and were joined in their strike by those in nine other airports who work for Eulen or Airport Terminal Services Inc., which service Delta and American Airlines. They’re calling for $15 an hour, benefits, and the right to organize.

“We cannot afford the expenses for our families and our day-to-day,” says Woldeargay. “With this money it is very hard, and many people have second jobs.” He’s one of them—in addition to his work in customer service, he does overnight shifts as a security guard at the airport. He and his wife live with his oldest son, one of his four children. He also has seven grandchildren, and another on the way.

When working as a customer service representative, he says he is on his feet for four to six hours straight. “My back hurts, my legs hurt,” he says.

Workers on strike had jobs ranging from baggage handlers and terminal cleaners to terminal security officers and wheelchair agents, according to Airport Workers United.

Representatives for the airport and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority declined to comment, other than to say that the airport operated normally yesterday despite the work stoppage. The workers on strike are not employed by the airport or the airports authority.

American Airlines said in a statement that it “does not believe initiatives should target a specific group or industry. We also respect the right of employees and workers to organize, we do not get involved in union representation discussions with our vendors and their employees.”

Delta has not responded to a request for comment.

At yesterday’s demonstration, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton joined workers and issued her support for their fight. “Poverty wages and abusive treatment by Eulen America and other employers in the National Capital Region, with its high cost of living, will not be tolerated by elected officials and the people they represent,” she said in a statement.

“Yesterday was really amazing,” says Woldeargay. “It was a big turnout. It’s very emotional.”