{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=561", "WaPo: Airport workers hope to get Thanksgiving travelers' attention", "2015-11-24", "2015", "2015-11", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "Gerald Connolly", "C001078", "connolly.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel days of the year, workers at 15 major U.S. airports are planning a day of fasting, vigils and rallies, aiming to galvanize the traveling public's support for their fight for better wages. Read more.\r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      Luz LazoOn the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel days of the year, workers at 15 major U.S. airports are\u00a0planning a day of fasting, vigils and rallies, aiming to galvanize the traveling public\u2019s support for their fight for better wages.The workers\u2014 a mix of cleaners, baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants\u00a0and security officers\u2014 will wear buttons that say \u201cAsk Me Why I\u2019m Fasting\u201d and pass out\u00a0petitions and flyers illustrating their\u00a0campaign for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, the Service Employees International Union said.Besides pushing for $15 minimum hourly wages, the workers want health care, sick leave, retirement benefits and job protections. They\u2019re also protesting threats against their efforts to unionize.Last week, as many as 2,000 workers went on strike at seven major hubs, including New York\u2019s Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. The\u00a0walkout\u00a0didn\u2019t disrupt air travel, but workers and union leaders say they are planning to step up their efforts as the busy holiday\u00a0season takes off. \u00a0Their goal is to put pressure on airports,\u00a0airlines and, most importantly, the contractors that hire the workers.\u201cThese used to be good jobs 20 years ago, but with subcontracting the jobs have really gone down,\u201d\u00a0 said Valarie Long, executive vice president of SEIU International. \u201cSome people are making as little as $7.25 an hour, some less because they are considered tipped employees. It is clear that something needs to change and the workers are going to use this holiday season to make sure that the public knows this.\u201dThe 24-hour fast, along\u00a0with vigils and rallies, are being organized at San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Chicago O\u2019Hare, Cleveland, Columbus, Minneapolis, Denver, Boston, New York\u2019s Kennedy and LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Reagan National airports.At National, at least 300 workers pledged to participate in the fast from noon Tuesday to noon Wednesday, workers and SEIU\u00a0leaders said.\u201cI believe it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Alex Aram, 24, a fulltime\u00a0baggage handler at National making $8.50 an hour through the\u00a0facility service and management company Eulen America. \u201cWe all come from the same struggle, we all have the same thing in common and want it to get better.\u201dThe national campaign mirrors that of fast-food restaurant\u00a0workers\u00a0who have been organizing in cities across the U.S. in their \u201cFight for $15\u2033 campaign. The airport workers have gained steam, expanding from just a handful of airports three years ago to 15 major hubs, where workers have held strikes and protests, and in the process have won some concessions.In Philadelphia, city leaders in June forced airline contractors to raise wages to $12 an hour. In Seattle, a state court ruled in August that a $15-an-hour minimum wage law applies to airport workers. And in South Florida, Broward County officials last month voted to extend a living-wage ordinance to contract airline workers, upping salaries by more than $3 an hour for some workers.Members of the clergy and high profile politicians including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have also pledged support.\u201cAirport jobs should be good jobs,\u201d Clinton said in a letter last month. \u201cToo many workers are living on the brink, struggling to make ends meet. We need you out there saying loudly and clearly\u2014no one who works an honest job in America should have to live in poverty.\u201dIn Washington, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) was one of several members of Congress who last week spoke in solidarity with\u00a0the workers strike outside the Capitol. Connolly bashed the workers\u2019 salaries and\u00a0conditions.\u201cAirports should be economic drivers, not sweatshops,\u201d he said. \u201cThese men and women shouldn\u2019t have to juggle multiple jobs and still struggle to pay the bills or support their families.\u201dThe low-wage airport workers are employed by private contractors that are free to pay the minimum wage. Some workers, including wheelchair attendants are paid $3.77 an hour because they are considered to be tipped employees, workers\u00a0said. In some markets, there is a push to be get the workers included under living-wage ordinances that cover employees working directly for the airports.At National, where some workers began to organize\u00a0over the summer, they are working to garner support from the travelers as well as urging more workers to join the effort. Some say they plan walkouts, rallies, and protests that could cause disruptions if no concessions are made. \u00a0This week, however, they say they will focus on fasting and prayer\u00a0to bring awareness of the labor struggle during one of the year\u2019s busiest travel days. AAA Travel estimates that nearly 47 million Americans will travel this Thanksgiving and 3.6 million of them will fly. \u00a0Tuesday is traditionally the busiest travel day before the holiday.\u201cA lot of people think that we make a lot of money because we work at the airport. But they don\u2019t know that we work for contractors who don\u2019t pay their employees that much money,\u201d said Tranden\u00a0Baccus, 33, an Alexandria, Va. resident who\u00a0makes $8.25 an hour as a baggage handler.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s no benefits, not sick leave, no paid vacation. Nothing.\u201dhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/11/24/airport-workers-hope-to-get-thanksgiving-travelers-attention/", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=561"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9343260899186134, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}