Philly Airport Workers Demonstrate, American Sees No Impact on Hub Flights
As Philadelphia prepares to host the Democratic National Convention, airport contract workers staged a demonstration Tuesday in support of a union organizing campaign and a $15 hourly wage.
The Service Employees International Union, the nation's second-largest labor union, with about 1.5 million workers, planned the demonstration and is seeking to organize the workers, who aren't currently union members.
The demonstration is taking place outside at Terminal A-west, the airport's international terminal. Besides hub carrier American Airlines (AAL) - Get Report , the terminal is served by British Airways, Delta, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways.
The permit obtained by SEIU allows workers to picket and hand out leaflets outside six airport terminals, with no more than 22 participants at each terminal, according to Philly.com.
At Philadelphia International Airport, three contractors employ about 1,000 baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, wheelchair attendants and line queues employed by three airport subcontractors.
American doesn't expect any impact on its passengers, said spokeswoman Victoria Lupica.
"We are well prepared with staff and do not anticipate disruptions to customer service or operations," Lupica said.
"Our direct employees are already unionized with the company's full support," she continued. "SEIU endorsed the agreement reached last year between American and the City of Philadelphia which provided a $12 per hour minimum wage with four years of increases for the employees of our vendors."
Philadelphia voters approved a "living wage" standard in 2014. Before that, airport workers "earned as little as $7.74 an hour plus tips," according to Philly.com.
SEIU has been organizing airport demonstrations by contract workers for several years. While airlines are heavily unionized, many airport workers are employed by subcontractors and aren't union members.
SEIU has been saying that the workers will "strike" during the Democratic convention, but a strike by workers who aren't union members is improbable, so Tuesday's demonstration is largely an effort to show the extent of the support for the union. "The mostly African-American and African immigrant airport workers live in poverty," the union said in a prepared statement.
Union spokesman Marc Goumbri said the workers generally back the Democratic Party, but the convention provides "an opportunity to let the world know what it's like to work at an airport making poverty wages.
"The goal is not to disrupt the convention," he said.
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.