Union workers at Los Angeles International Airport were scheduled Wednesday to march a six-foot-tall birthday cake through the terminals at the airport as a part of a rally to demand good union jobs, living wages and healthcare.
Hundreds of union workers will gather near curbside check-in at Terminal 1 at 11 a.m. to call on airlines like Southwest and American to stop undermining worker standards by "switching good union jobs to irresponsible contractors," like S.A.S. Services Group and JetStream, according to Andrew Hagelshaw of Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West.
The workers will march the giant cake throughout the terminals beginning at 11:30.
"When Southwest Airlines switched our work from a union contractor to a non-union contractor called S.A.S., I lost most of my health insurance," LAX passenger service employee Maria Romero said. "Now I can't afford to get new glasses, which makes it more difficult for me to monitor security cameras." Romero said because of the change, her work hours have been reduced and she lost her seniority rights.
Barbara Gomez works as a cabin cleaner for American Airlines and said the airline's decision to use non-union contractor Jet Stream has been "horrible."
"My former union employer used to have a high lift truck that would allow cleaners to get our carts right outside the cabin door," Gomez said.
"JetStream requires us to walk from plane to plane all night dragging our carts and climb stairs up to the planes with our heavy supplies."
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She said workers get soaked when it rains because Jet Stream does not provide rain gear to its employees.
The union claimed its members and other contracted airport workers help make soaring profits for the global airline industry "while struggling to make ends meet on low wages and often without benefits of paid days off."
There was no immediate response from the contractors.
