Guadalupe Rivas, LAX Passenger Service Worker

Guadalupe Rivas, 51, has cleaned Southwest airplanes at the Los Angeles International Airport for more than seven years.  On a typical work day, Guadalupe might find a syringe in the back pocket of an airplane seat. In fact, Guadalupe has been pricked by a sewing needle when bagging and carrying trash bags. Despite the dangerous nature of her job, Guadalupe joins 97% of her coworkers without access to affordable family health insurance.

“This isn’t just dangerous for me as I clean, but also a threat to the passengers riding on the plane.”

During her night shift from 9:00 PM to 5:30 AM, Guadalupe may clean up to 10 airplanes.  The airplane cleaning team is often short staffed; pressuring Guadalupe and her coworkers to clean just as quickly as a full team to keep up with the workload, but she fears that the quality of their cleaning suffers. 

While Guadalupe and her coworkers are given new pillowcases to change every flight, the blankets are reused and folded like new for use on multiple flights, even if they have been found on the floor.

“I wish I could replace the blankets after every flight, but the airlines don’t give us the materials we need to provide better customer service.”

To clean the airplane bathroom, Guadalupe resorts to using pillowcases to clean and wipe up the floors, toilets, and sinks because she isn’t given a mop or the proper cleaning supplies.

“Without the right equipment, my job is more difficult, dangerous and the airplane is not going to be as clean as it should for the passengers.”

Guadalupe is standing up with her coworkers for quality services and passenger safety at LAX.

For more information call Mike Chavez at (213) 284-7773 or (562) 644-0798 or visit www.seiu-usww.org.