Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to join food service organizations at food fair for airport workers dealing with food insecurity at LaGuardia Airport
(Long Island, NY) We all know food at the airport is expensive, but what if you were making poverty wages and had to pay for that food every day? As the airlines rake in record profits, and the Port Authority allocates billions to supposedly modernize the LaGuardia Airport, the subcontracted airport workers who help make these profits possible are struggling to survive. They are paid poverty wages that force them to choose between paying the rent and buying food. One in five airport workers report that they have skipped a meal within the past week because of financial reasons. When juggling their finances doesn’t work, more than 50% of subcontracted airport workers in the New York region are forced to rely on some form of government assistance. We cannot claim to have a modern, 21st century airport while workers toil under 19th century wages and working conditions.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York City Councilmembers will join The New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Make the Road, 32BJ SEIU and hundreds of airport workers. Elected officials and community supporters will hold a rally to support a two-day food tent at LaGuardia Airport that will provide struggling airport workers meals and the screenings for government assistance they need as they wait for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to increase wages and benefits at the airports.
There are more than 12,000 airline subcontracted service workers at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Airports who have been engaged in a fight for higher wages, basic benefits, appropriate equipment and the right to union representation for more than three years. The majority make $10.10 an hour, leaving them below the federal poverty line for a family of four. They have been waiting for nine months for the Port Authority of NY and NJ to release a better wage and benefits plan that will lift them out of poverty. An informal survey of airport workers found that, while many are on some form of public assistance already, many more did not know they qualified for food subsidies. The New York City Coalition Against Hunger, in partnership with 32BJ, plans to help struggling airport workers find the government assistance they need as they continue to wait for the Port Authority to move on its long overdue plan.
This event will be held at Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at NOON at the Airport Marriot at 102-05 Ditmars Blvd.
With 145,000 members in eleven states and Washington, D.C., 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.
