Charlotte Airport Workers Join Union That Seeks Higher Pay At American Airlines Hubs

The second largest U.S. labor union says it has mounted a campaign to organize airport workers at various American Airlines hubs and has recently succeeded in workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

“A lot of the organizing we’ve done in the past 40 years has been focused along the Eastern seaboard and the west seaboard, and we knew if we wanted to organize in the South, we needed to tackle American Airlines,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, in an interview. SEIU has about two million members.

Airport workers do not generally work for airlines, but rather for various smaller contractors. Henry said the union’s most immediate effort is to raise their hourly salaries to at least $15.

In Charlotte, the union said Friday that it won an election to organize about 500 workers, including ramp agents, cabin cleaners, lavatory and water agents and high lift truck drivers. The workers are employed by Jupiter, Fl.-based Jetstream Ground Services, which offers airport services at about a dozen airports.

Jetstream did not respond to phone calls, e-mails or a Facebook message. “The contractor was fighting us and discouraging workers,” Henry said, adding that Jetstream is “primarily non-union and they were incredibly resistant.”

In the election, the vote was 87-61 in favor of joining SEIU. Henry said. While many workers could not vote because they were not scheduled as workers during the voter verification time period, they are still represented, Kay said.

The May election was the second Charlotte election for SEIU. Earlier, after SEIU began to organize, the International Association of Machinists intervened, forcing a representation election, in which SEIU finished first and “no union” finished second. The second election was a runoff between SEIU and “no union.”

Henry said that in recent years, SEIU has organized about 36,000 airport service workers at 43 airports. She said the union also seeks to have the $15 minimum hourly airport wage, with health care and scheduled time off, included in the Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization Congressional bill.

In March, SEIU representatives spoke to the transportation and infrastructure committee of the Dallas City Council, seeking support for a minimum wage standard.

In January 2022 the Chicago City Council approved an ordinance boosting minimum wage for about 6,500 contracted airport workers including caterers, de-icers, baggage handlers, aircraft cleaners and wheelchair attendants. The wage is now $18 hourly, up from $15 when the ordinance passed. “The push in Chicago is part of a years-long drive by SEIU members across the country,” the union said.

SEIU said that nationwide, wages and benefits for airport service workers have stagnated, with wages stuck near the poverty level for the past 20 years. Vehicle and equipment cleaners, including cabin cleaners, are the lowest paid airport job, with an annual median income of just $25,030. Most of the workers are people of color and immigrants, the union said.