STRIKE AVERTED: NY/NJ Airport Workers Ratify New Contract

The newly ratified contract includes improved health & safety regulations and discrimination protections; thousands received healthcare on July 1 in NY and September 1 in New Jersey 

Newark, NJ – After negotiations that lasted over three months, a committee representing more than 10,000 mostly-Black and immigrant airport workers across John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports overwhelmingly ratified a new three year contract.

The contract is set to provide the contracted airport workers, members of 32BJ SEIU, with guidelines on the implementation of the Healthy Terminals Act, which will provide health care to frontline airport workers, in addition to improved health and safety guidelines and increased protections against discrimination on the job.

On July 1, healthcare coverage through the Healthy Terminals Act also kicked in at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports for over two thousand workers, who have worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. The historic healthcare legislation, first-state level legislation of its kind in the country, provides a benefit supplement that can provide meaningful and sustainable healthcare benefits for airport workers. The Healthy Terminals Act goes into effect in NJ on September 1st.

“Our bargaining committee worked tirelessly to get this strong new contract, and we are happy to see that the hard work paid off,” said Kyle Bragg, 32BJ SEIU President. “Airport workers play a key role in our post-pandemic recovery. After a year that was defined by calls for racial justice and the safety of our essential workers, this contract will propel our airports to a recovery that puts working people first.”

Throughout the negotiations, the airport workers garnered support from local and state elected leaders including: Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Stephen Sweeny, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, and HTA Sponsors Senator Loretta Weinberg and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano. “This year has been an eventful year for airport workers in New Jersey. First they won the Healthy Terminals’ Act and now their new contract,” said Senator Loretta Weinberg. “Airport workers are essential workers, and they have worked hard throughout this time keeping our airports clean, safe and running. It is comforting to know that they will continue doing so, now with all the protections of a strong, solid contract with adequate wage increases, and protections.”

The new three-year contract includes guidelines on the implementation of the Healthy Terminals Act, which will provide workers with health insurance with no monthly co-premium. Labor management committees will also now meet quarterly and have greater access to information to ensure compliance with health and safety guidance, including CDC, Department of Health, and OSHA regulations, and review policies pertaining to PPE, social distancing, contact tracing and other procedures.

The contract also includes protections against discrimination based on natural hair or hairstyles closely associated with racial, ethnic or cultural identities such as braids, locks or afros. The bargaining committee also successfully preserved MLK Day as a paid holiday, widely regarded as a major victory in airport workers’ fight for racial justice.

“After long, hard weeks of bargaining, we have prevailed and reached this historic contract. The established provisions focus on leveling the inequalities highlighted by the pandemic” explained Dayshon Beeks, lift truck driver at Newark International Airport and a member of the bargaining committee. “We will no longer have to worry about choosing whether to seek medical care or feed our families. We will no longer have to worry about discriminatory practices. We can now face the future and continue to strengthen ourselves, our families, and our communities.”

The tentative contract also includes extension of recall rights for workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Airport workers represented by 32BJ SEIU include contracted passenger service representatives, cabin and terminal cleaners, baggage handlers, security officers, wheelchair attendants and skycaps, working for 23 airline contractors.

The new contract expires on February 28, 2024.

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With 175,000 members in 11 states, including 16,000 across airports up and down the East Coast, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country