SAN FRANCISCO – Prospect Airport Services avoided an unfair labor practice strike today when they reached a tentative agreement with passenger service workers united in Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Service Workers West. The three-year pact will raise wages and benefits for 70 Prospect workers subcontracted by the airlines to provide assistance to air travelers with disabilities at San Francisco International Airport in the International Terminal.
“This agreement will improve passenger safety as well as our wages and benefits,” said Maria Luisa Sarte, a member of the bargaining committee and passenger service worker for nearly 7 years. “I can give great service to one passenger at a time now, instead of being forced to push two wheelchairs at once.” The new contract will give workers more strength to bring the company into compliance with airport policies around passenger safety.
Last year, several Prospect workers blew the whistle on the company for forcing workers to use broken wheelchairs and to push more than one wheelchair at a time or to push a passenger in a wheelchair and a baggage cart at the same time, practices that put air travelers with disabilities at risk. Workers had filed a formal complaint filed with the Department of Transportation against Prospect for alleged failure to provide adequate training and properly maintain equipment, in violation of the Air Carrier Access Act.
The tentative deal was reached late last night after proactive mediation by the San Francisco Airport Administration as well as the Federal Medication and Conciliation Services. Airport Director John Martin and his staff were instrumental in preventing a strike.