Ababuti Olok, a contracted SkyCap worker and wheelchair attendant at Logan Airport in Boston, has experienced more than his fair share of hardship. He escaped his home country of Ethiopia with his life in danger, then spent 10 years in refugee camps in Kenya before coming to the United States.
“But nothing quite compares to the devastation and uncertainty of the past two years,” said Ababuti. “Nothing.”
Like the majority of his co-workers and hundreds of thousands of essential airport service workers around the country, Ababuti was laid off from his job in spring 2020 and was subsequently unemployed for nearly a year. When he finally returned to work at Logan, he was over three months behind on rent for the apartment he shares with his wife and two young sons. Now, despite working full-time again, he is struggling to catch up on his expenses and worries that his family will end up homeless.
Ababuti’s story is not unique. Contract airport service workers remain on the frontlines of the pandemic, risking their lives and the health of their families so the public can travel. This majority Black, brown, and immigrant workforce includes wheelchair attendants, cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, gate security officers, and many other service workers. Congress recognized the importance of these workers during the pandemic by providing $5 billion for airport contractors to continue paying their employees’ wages, salaries, and benefits. But that didn’t stop many workers like Ababuti from being laid off for long stretches. Now, they are struggling to catch up financially.
As air travel continues to recover, these essential workers should receive a living wage and benefits, not only because they’ve earned it, but because fair compensation for airport service workers helps consumers too. Studies show that paying airport service workers a living wage and benefits improves airport services and security by lowering turnover and ensuring that airports have an experienced workforce to serve passengers and respond to emergencies. At Logan Airport, for example, although service workers receive a limited number of paid sick days and health insurance through MassHealth, they have not received a raise since before the pandemic. In many other states, airport service workers receive no paid days off or health insurance. No federal standard regulates compensation at our airports — even though the compensation levels have a direct impact on airport services and safety.
The Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, introduced today in Congress, is supported by the airport workers in the 32BJ SEIU union and is designed to fix this problem. It would require that airports, airport vendors, and airline contractors pay their service workers a living wage and benefits to access over $11 billion in annual federal funds. If the federal government is going to provide airports with billions of dollars each year, we must ensure that our public resources serve the public good. The Good Jobs for Good Airports Act does just that. By improving the quality of airport service jobs, we can also improve the quality of our airports. This bill would also tackle the deep systemic inequities perpetuated by contracted airport service jobs, since these mostly Black, brown, and immigrant workers tend to have lower wages and poorer benefits than others in the industry. Compounding the challenges are the increasing rates of food insecurity across Massachusetts in the wake of COVID-19, leaving one in three adults without enough to eat.
It’s past time we recognize the invisible workforce keeping our airports running smoothly and safely—a workforce whose contributions have never been clearer during than throughout the pandemic. These are the security officers who protect travelers, the baggage handlers who make sure our luggage arrives at the right destination, the wheelchair attendants who transport elderly or disabled passengers from the gate to their families safely, and the food service workers who prepare our meals or cup of coffee before we board. These workers risked their health — and sometimes lost their lives — to keep Americans moving during the pandemic. It is time we repaid their sacrifices.
These workers are ready to seize this historic moment in which workers everywhere are saying enough is enough. From Starbucks to Amazon to Logan Airport and beyond, workers like Ababuti are saying they deserve better, and we agree with them.
Edward Markey is the junior senator from Massachusetts and Kyle Bragg is president of 32BJ SEIU, the largest property services’ union in the country with 175,000 members, including Airport workers, up and down the East Coast.