O'Hare Airport baggage handlers, custodians to strike

O'Hare Airport baggage handlers, custodians to strike
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-ohare-airport-workers-strike-0...

Jets are at their gates at the United terminal at O'Hare International Airport on Oct. 8, 2015. The view is from the old Air Traffic Control Tower. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
Alexia Elejalde-RuizContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
O'Hare International Airport workers plan to go on strike starting late Wednesday as part of a national action to protest what they say are low wages, inadequate safety training and retaliation for organizing.

Nearly 100 baggage handlers, custodians, cabin cleaners, security officers and wheelchair attendants are expected to walk off the job at O'Hare, joining their peers at eight other airports across the country participating in 24-hour strikes, said Izabela Miltko, spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union Local 1.

The strikes were originally planned for March 22, the day of the terrorist attacks on an airport and train station in Brussels. They were postponed out of respect for the victims, Miltko said.

Julio Godoy, who has worked as a cabin cleaner at O'Hare for two years, said he plans to skip his scheduled shift Thursday to protest retaliation he feels he has suffered for agitating for better working conditions, including being assigned to teams in which no one else speaks Spanish so that he can't communicate with them.

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An immigrant from Guatemala, Godoy, 53, said he worked as a banker in his native country before coming to the U.S. with his son less than three years ago to escape the violence and crime that threatened him and his family.

"Like many, I came to this country to try and look for a better life," Godoy, who earns $10 an hour with subcontractor Prospect Airport Services, said through a translator. "I ended up in this company, and the thing is with companies like this they are constantly keeping workers down. I don't think that's OK, so I am working to change that."

The rolling strike at O'Hare is expected to start at 10 p.m. Wednesday with a group of security guards on the night shift, and will continue through Thursday as other workers show up for their shifts. A rally is set for 8 a.m. Thursday between terminals 2 and 3, where the workers will be joined by Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, and Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st.

Airport officials were not immediately available to comment.

The striking workers, who are not union members, are employees of subcontractors hired by the airlines to clean planes and airports, haul bags and transport people with disabilities.

United Airlines spokesman Charles Hobart said he spoke with Scrub, a subcontractor that provides janitorial services, and was told it doesn't anticipate an effect on operations. But United continues to work with the company to "ensure that they have contingency plans in order to continue to serve our customers."

This is the first time a large group of O'Hare workers have gone on strike together since the SEIU's airport campaign launched in September, though security officers went on strike in November, and the workers have protested and rallied together during other actions. The SEIU is the driving force behind the Fight for $15 campaign to boost the wages of fast-food workers, which has expanded to include other low-wage workers.

The airport workers are holding the unfair labor practices strike for what they say is retaliation for calling for a $15 minimum wage, emergency preparedness training and other workplace improvements.

Godoy said he is concerned that his employer does not provide workers with the proper equipment or training to handle the potentially harmful substances they encounter as they clean.

"As cabin cleaners we have to deal with human blood, vomit and cleaning toilets," he said. "We do this with latex gloves only and I think we need better training to deal with this so that we're better protected."

Sadaf Subijano, 42, a security officer at O'Hare for 20 years, said she won't show up for her scheduled shift Thursday.

Subijano, who works for airport subcontractor Universal Security and earns $12.13 an hour, feels she has been getting shoddier assignments since she started organizing for better working conditions, including an undesirable placement outside in the airfield, where she has never been placed before.

Among her concerns are that security officers get no sick days, and when they do call off sick they are required to bring in a doctor's statement confirming that they are ill or risk getting sanctioned — a hassle, especially given that they don't get health benefits, that results in many people going to work sick.

She also feels unprepared in an emergency, particularly pertinent in light of the Brussels attack, and wants more training on how to respond.

"We don't have nothing much but a radio to communicate with command center," Subijano said. "I don't think that's enough."

The workers being organized have wages ranging from $12.75 for cabin drivers who transport cleaners between planes and hangars to $6.75 for wheelchair attendants, who get less than minimum wage because they are tipped, according to Miltko at SEIU.

But passengers often don't tip, Miltko said. Employers are supposed to make up the difference if the day's tips don't bring attendants' pay up to minimum wage, but workers often don't reveal when that's the case because they are afraid they will be accused of pocketing the cash or not providing good service, she said.

"These workers have been left behind," she said.

Universal Security declined to comment. Prospect Airport Services and Scrub did not respond to requests for comment.

aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com

Twitter @alexiaer