Some ramp workers and airplane cabin cleaners at LaGuardia Airport walked off the job Thursday to protest what they call unsafe working conditions and equipment issues, as well as alleged retaliation against organizing.
The workers, employees of aviation service provider Swissport USA, load, unload, and clean aircraft for Air Canada and Spirit Airlines.
“We are consistently understaffed here at Swissport USA,” said ramp agent Jonathan Quito Rodriguez, 27, at a rally outside LaGuardia’s Terminal A. “But perhaps worst of all we are contending with a terrible culture of intimidation and retaliation because we spoke out about our conditions at work.”
Swissport workers said they were saddled with old and unreliable equipment, from the small trucks — called tugs — that move airplanes on the tarmac, to the personal protective gear they use while cleaning planes and emptying cabin lavatories.
“You need a whole suit and a face shield,” Jason Reed, 27, said of draining airplane sewage. “They don’t give us that.”
“We work with biohazards — lavatories, vomit,” said Justice Cardenas, who’s been on the job six months. “All they give us is gloves.”
The tarmac workers are trying to unionize with the Service Employees International Union.
The union has brought work safety complaints against Swissport operations at numerous airports in recent months, including Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, Boston’s Logan International, and Newark Airport.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration records show that an investigation into allegations regarding Swissport’s LaGuardia operations began in May. It is ongoing.
A spokesman for the Port Authority said the Daily News the strike had “no operational impact” on flights at the airport.
Representatives for Swissport did not immediately respond to request for comment Thursday, nor did spokespeople for Air Canada or Spirit.
