On Wed., Nov. 22, over 200 hundred people picketed at the Oakland International Airport demanding justice for the airport workers. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is considered the airport’s busiest travel day of the year. It was an ideal day for the workers to loudly demonstrate their demands for a union.
Travelers and other airport employees watched in interest as the crowd
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Currently, the living wage ordinance covering the Port of Oakland, which includes the airport, requires the port and any company that contracts with it to provide workers at least $10.07 an hour with health benefits or $11.58 an hour without benefits. This minimum wage falls very short of the cost of living in the Bay Area.
Aviation Safeguards also cuts employees’ health care benefits if their hours fall below full-time status and into the part-time category. This has happened to about 120 aviation workers.
Workers and union organizers also accused the company of intimidating workers who want to join the union. The company has sent out notices suggesting that workers could go somewhere else if they do not appreciate their jobs.
After the picket, a brief rally was held and speeches were given to the crowd over a bullhorn. The protest was organized by the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU recently unionized airport workers at the San Francisco International Airport.
Many community organizations, including the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, along with local clergy and other union workers participated in the event.
