CHICAGO — A ****** by hourly workers at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago will add another dimension to a nationwide day of ******** by fast-food employees who have been pushing for a $15 hourly wage and union rights, organizers said Monday.
Thousands of workers plan to walk off the job at McDonald’s restaurants and other fast-food spots in more than 340 cities on Nov. 29, organizers said in a news release. The planned “Day of **********” will mark the fourth anniversary of the first ******** at McDonald’s restaurants in New York.
The attention-grabbing airport ****** is “going to cause complete ********** in travel plans for the day and maybe days to come,” said Kendall Fells, national organizing director of the Fight for $15 campaign. “Four decades ago, airport jobs were jobs you could live off of. Now airport jobs are just like fast-food jobs. We’re all standing together.”
Service Employees International Union Local 1, which announced Monday that hundreds of workers will ****** that day at O’Hare, one of the nation’s busiest airports, has helped fund and staff the Fight for $15 campaign.
O’Hare is the only airport where workers plan to ******, though organizers are planning ******** at airports in 18 other cities, including Boston, Washington, D.C., Denver, Atlanta, Seattle and Los Angeles.
About 500 O’Hare workers committed to a ****** after a vote last week. They are trying to organize with the union’s help. They work for private contractors at the airport and include ******* handlers, cabin cleaners, janitors and wheelchair attendants. Organizers said it will be up to workers to decide whether the ****** will last longer than one day.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said it doesn’t anticipate any ********** in service.
Some holiday travellers are nervous, however. Kim Maguire, 40, of Crystal Lake, was at O’Hare on Monday with her 3-year-old daughter and husband as they headed out for a holiday trip to see relatives in Seattle, with a return flight scheduled on the ****** date.
“I don’t want it to impact our travel plans,” Maguire said. “Especially travelling with a 3-year-old, delays would be difficult.”
Maguire said she supports the workers and is grateful to those who clean planes, especially reaching into seat-back pockets. “I wouldn’t want to reach my hand in there,” she said.
Julio Godoy, 54, an O’Hare airplane cabin cleaner who makes $10.50 an hour, said he plans to take part in the ******. He said he knows co-workers who have been stuck by the needles of syringes left in seat-back pockets and who then needed to be tested for HIV and hepatitis. He said he’s also concerned about being asked to check planes for ******* and explosives without training.
There had been concern that the ****** would fall during the busiest travel days. In announcing the Nov. 29 ******, the union and workers on Monday portrayed the date as a concession to families.
“O’Hare airport workers often can’t afford a proper Thanksgiving dinner and know what it’s like to miss Thanksgiving with our families,” said ******* handler Raquel Brito, who announced the ****** date. “However we respect families travelling to be together and that is why we’re holding off our ****** until after the Thanksgiving holiday.”