(Photo via 32BJ SEIU)

(Photo via 32BJ SEIU)

Hundreds of contract workers rallied at Reagan National Airport as part of a series of Fight for $15 protests at airports around the country today. They also authorized a strike vote during the holiday season against a private company that provides services at both National and Washington Dulles International.

“We work very hard to ensure that travelers have a safe and clean airport, but we are ready to go on strike to ensure we can provide for our families,” Aynalem Lale, a wheelchair dispatcher at Dulles, said in a release. “If I made $15 an hour, I wouldn’t have to work two jobs and would not have to sleep at the airport between jobs.”

Workers marched from DCA to the headquarters of the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, demanding they compel contractors to pay at least $15 an hour.

Contract employees at 19 other airports, Uber drivers, and fast food workers around the country also held demonstrations, according to SEIU Local 32BJ, which says it is the largest property service workers union in the country. In Manhattan, about two dozen people (including two city council members) were arrested after marching up Broadway. In Chicago, where hundreds of fast food workers walked off their jobs and blocked traffic early Tuesday morning, police made several arrests and issued more than 50 citations.

The “Fight for 15” movement started in 2012, when fast food workers walked off the job in NYC. Waves of local and national protests have swept low-wage industries, with some notable successes.

In D.C., after a local budget referendum seemed poised for success, the mayor came to an agreement to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.

The city’s major airports, however, are in Virginia, which uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Contract workers there make “as little as $6.75 an hour plus unreliable tips” without employer-paid health care, SEIU says.

About 150 workers employed at DCA and IAD by two other contractors, Eulen America and Airport Terminal Services Inc., joined a 24-hour national strike back in April. Some time in the coming months, they will take a strike vote against Huntleigh Corporation, another company that provides services.

“Given the vital role that airport workers play in keeping air travel running smoothly, safely, and on-time, it is disappointing that contracted workers at DCA are not paid a living wage for the critical work that they do,”said Virginia Delegate Alphonso Lopez. “In our nation’s capital, we can and should do better for those who help keep our economy moving. MWAA should act now.”

Filed Under: airport, airport workers, fight for 15, labor, labor issues, mwaa, rally, strike,