Los Angeles 08/20/08 - Airline service workers at Los Angeles International Airport voted overwhelmingly yesterday to authorize a strike at the world's fifth largest airport.  Speakers at a midday rally on Wednesday said that they were fed up with declining standards of service and security at the airports.  According to the service workers, inadequate training, lack of proper equipment, poverty-level wages and lack of access to health care are causing record turnover rates among workers and driving a race to the bottom in service and safety standards.

While workers expressed anger at their employers who have stalled negotiations and threatened workers who show support for the union, they also called on airline giants such as United, American and Southwest to take a leadership role in calling for higher standards for service and security.

"The airlines can do a lot better to improve services to their airline passengers and airport security, while at the same time make these good jobs for our families and our communities," said Fanny Fuentes, who provides wheelchair assistance to passengers with disabilities and seniors at Northwest Airlines.  Fuentes, like most airport service workers, earns only $10 an hour and does not have adequate individual or family healthcare.

In a recent survey of airport workers by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, 75 percent of wheelchair attendants surveyed reported problems with broken or malfunctioning wheelchairs and nearly a third reported that a passenger has been in danger due to equipment problems or lack of training.

J.D. Power and Associates reported recently that customer satisfaction in the airline industry is at a three year low.  They argue that, "In this unstable industry environment, it is critical that airlines invest in their employees as a means to enhance the customer experience, as there is a strong connection between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction."

How much would raising standards cost?:  Less than 25 cents per ticket.
Improvements to training, proper equipment, a livable wage and family health care coverage could be implemented for a cost barely noticeable to passengers.  Less than 25 cents per ticket would improve passenger service and airline security.  Despite raising ticket prices by an average of $200 and instituting a range of new fees, airlines have been unwilling to make this minor investment in the workers who directly impact the overall travel-experience of their passengers.

CRISIS IN AIRLINE SERVICE INDUSTRY

Low wages and lack of healthcare are driving a turnover rate among airport service workers that is as high as 50% per year in some jobs.  This negatively impacts service and security at California airports.  High turnover in the industry prevents security officers and other passenger service workers from getting the experience and training they need to adequately protect and provide quality services to airline passengers.

Statewide, airline service workers such as security officers, janitors, passenger service workers, cabin cleaners, ramp and cargo crew, on average, earn less than $10.50 an hour, with some earning as low as $8 an hour, putting them well below the $54,000 per year that the Economic Policy Institute says is necessary for a family of four to survive in California.

"Airlines like American, United and Southwest and others are creating a crisis of inadequate training and equipment, low wages and lack of healthcare that is robbing airline passengers of quality service and security and is also robbing our communities of good jobs you can support a family on," said Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan II, Senior Pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles.  Logan is a leader of the growing Reaching Higher Coalition of clergy, passengers, community and elected leaders in support of airport service workers' efforts to improve their jobs and their communities by forming a union with SEIU.

CONTRACT, ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN

For the first time ever, airport service workers united in Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1877 aim to negotiate master agreements to cover 5,000 subcontracted airline service workers at LAX, SFO, SJC, and OAK.  Current contracts have recently expired or are expiring at the end of August.  The airport service workers union, SEIU, is currently in negotiations with subcontractors including ABM, Aero Port Services, Air Serv, Aviation Safeguards, G2 Secure Staff, Lee's Maintenance, One Source, Primeflight, Service Performance Company, and World Service West.  These subcontractors service American, United, Southwest and other airlines and perform the majority of the secuirty, janitorial and passenger service work at LAX, SFO, San Jose and Oakland airports.

"The failure of the airlines to establish professional standards among airport service work has created a race to the bottom and fuels a turnover rate rivaling that of the fast-food industry," said Mike Garcia, President of SEIU Local 1877, the airport service workers' union.