Charlotte airport workers strike at outset of busy Thanksgiving travel week

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 5:24 AM EST, November 25, 2024


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Service workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport have gone on strike during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to protest what they say are unlivable wages. Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services cast ballots Friday to authorize the work stoppage in North Carolina, which a spokesperson said began Monday morning.

Officials with Service Employees International Union announced the impending strike in a statement early Monday, saying the workers would demand “an end to poverty wages and respect on the job during the holiday travel season.” ABM and Prospect Airport Services contract with American Airlines to provide services including cleaning airplane interiors, removing trash and escorting passengers in wheelchairs.

Workers say they previously raised the alarm about their growing inability to afford basic necessities, including food and housing. They described living paycheck to paycheck, unable to cover expenses like car repairs while performing jobs that keep countless planes running on schedule.

“We’re on strike today because this is our last resort. We can’t keep living like this,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said in a statement. “We’re taking action because our families can’t survive.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/charlotte-airport-workers-strike-3a00ed15aedfdd8b5e2383feab53cb5a

[OldBaldy1701E]

1. There are workers being taken advantage of?

In Charlotte, the financial hub of the south? Where bankers gather in downtown bars, but not after 9 p.m., because most of them close then. (There were times one would think one was on a post-apocalyptic movie set on non-football weekends... there would be no car in sight and no one else walking around. But, fortunes would be made and lost vying for that weekday lunch crowd.)

It is no surprise that CLT has a 'wage slave' mentality. I hope they can get some relief. I am not hopeful as the Assembly is still rethug and they will probably want to call in the State Guard on those strikers for daring to interfere with their holiday travel plans.