Associated Press
SEATTLE — Hundreds of cart drivers, wheelchair agents, cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, unaccompanied minor escorts and lavatory and water service fillers voted today to strike over unfair labor practices at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The workers are part of the nationwide campaign of airport workers fighting for $15 and union rights.
“We want Sea-Tac to continue to be a world-class airport,” said Nolan Lewis, who works on the Interline that brings passengers’ luggage through the airport. “But how can that happen if our employer won’t even follow the law? We are ready to strike to put an end to the unfair labor practices and wage theft.”
Over the last five years, Sea-Tac airport workers have come together with other workers in the fight for $15 and union rights. In 2013, voters in the city of SeaTac joined with airport workers to raise the minimum wage to $15 in and around the airport. Seatac voters approved the first $15 minimum wage in the country.
The workers claim Air Serv continues to stand in the way of raising standards in the airport. Air Serv faces a class action lawsuit for retroactive pay that workers say it owes its employees because of its delay in paying the voter-approved minimum wage.
“The time is now for the workers of Sea-Tac to come together and have a voice on the job,” said Lewis, whose co-workers voted overwhelmingly to strike. Workers say the Sea-Tac strike takes place amidst record profits for the aviation industry.
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