Charlotte airport workers strike over pay ahead of busy Thanksgiving travel

CHARLOTTE, NC (AP) — Service workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport have gone on strike during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel protesting what they say are unaffordable wages.

Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services ballots cast Friday to approve the work stoppage in North Carolina, which a spokesman said began Monday morning.

Officials with the Service Employees International Union announced the impending strike in a statement early Monday, saying workers would demand “an end to poverty wages and respect on the job during the holiday travel season.”

ABM and Prospect Airport Services contract with American Airlines to provide services including aircraft interior cleaning, trash removal and escorting passengers in wheelchairs.

Workers say they have raised the alarm in the past about their growing inability to afford basic necessities, including food and housing. They described living paycheck to paycheck, unable to cover expenses like car repairs while doing jobs that keep countless planes running on schedule.

“We’re striking today because this is our last resort. We can’t keep living like this,” ABM cabbie Priscilla Hoyle said in a statement. “We’re taking action because our families can’t survive.”

Several hundred workers were expected to walk off the job and continue the walkout throughout Monday.

Most of them make between $12.50 and $19 an hour, well below the living wage for a single person without children in the Charlotte area, union officials said.

Officials at Charlotte Douglas International Airport have said this holiday travel season is expected to be the busiest on record, with an estimated 1.02 million passengers departing the airport between last Thursday and the Monday after Thanksgiving.

In addition to walking off the job, striking workers plan to hold a morning meeting and a “strike” lunch “in lieu of the Thanksgiving meal that many of the workers will not be able to afford later in the week,” union representatives say. said.

“Airport service workers make vacation travel possible by keeping airports safe, clean and running smoothly,” the union said. “Despite their critical role in the profits enjoyed by large corporations, many airport service workers must work two to three jobs to make ends meet.”

ABM said it would take steps to minimize disruption from any demonstrations.

“At ABM, we appreciate the hard work our team members put in every day to support our customers and help keep spaces clean and people healthy,” the company said in a statement last week.

Prospect Airport Services said last week that the company recognizes the seriousness of the potential for a strike during the busy holiday travel season.