Health Care Bill For Newark Airport Heads To Gov. Murphy’s Desk

NEWARK, NJ — A bill that would help thousands of workers at Newark Airport pay for health care is sitting on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk. But while supporters say it’s a long overdue tribute to some of New Jersey’s most essential transportation workers, some Republican lawmakers argue that the proposed law is a “business killer.”

The bill, known as the Healthy Terminal Act, has passed the state Senate and Assembly. It would set a prevailing wage schedule for any employee – including those from private companies – who spends at least half their work week at the airport or adjacent Newark Liberty International Airport Train Station. It also requires employers to pay a health care supplement of $4.54 an hour on top of the minimum wage.

The bill would affect more than 10,000 employees at Newark Airport, many whom work for subcontracted companies. Those workers include cabin and terminal cleaners, wheelchair attendants, baggage claim attendants, security officers and passenger service representatives.

It would be the first time such mandates would be imposed on New Jersey’s private businesses outside of the construction industry, according to a statement from the New Jersey Assembly Republicans.

However, it wouldn’t be a unique law to the Garden State. A state law was passed in New York that provides similar benefits to workers at LaGuardia and JFK airports in December 2020.

The act would take effect immediately. Read the full text here.

WORKERS: HERE’S WHY WE NEED IT

Andre Cooper, a cabin cleaner at Newark Airport, has been on the job since the pandemic began, cleaning airplanes from all over the world. And he’s been doing it without health insurance, he says.

“We’ve waited for this moment for so long,” Cooper said, sharing his enthusiasm after the Assembly passed the bill last week. “We came together, we lobbied, we rallied, we testified, and now we can look forward to a better, healthier future … now we just need Governor Murphy to sign the bill as soon as possible.”

For Rhina Hernandez, a single mother of three children who works at the airport cleaning food coolers, the bill is coming at a time of great need for her family.

“I breathed a sigh of relief,” she said after the Assembly’s vote.

According to labor union 32BJ SEIU, which represents many of the affected workers, Cooper and Hernandez aren’t alone. Many of their peers say they can’t afford their employer’s coverage due to sky-high costs, but can't qualify for Medicaid or Affordable Care Act subsidies because their incomes are too high.

As a result, up to a third of the workers at Newark Airport have no health care, union spokespeople said.

If passed, the bill will force employers to pay a benefit supplement that will create “meaningful and sustainable health care coverage,” the union said.

The union estimated that the total cost to airlines would account for just 0.11 percent of the industry's recent $79 billion federal pandemic bailout.

• See related article: COVID Bailout Is For People, Not Stocks, Rep. Payne Tells United

Union spokespeople said that if passed, the bill is expected to create about $7 million in Medicaid savings for the state when workers switch to employer health plans.

The bill has also picked up support from other groups, such as BlueWaveNJ.

“Newark Liberty Airport workers have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, risking their health and the health of their families without access to affordable, quality health care,” the group stated. “This has to change.”

• See related article: Newark Airport Workers Resume Health Care Fight Amid COVID Crisis
• See related article: Newark Airport Workers Rally For Health Care: 'I Pray To God'

CRITICS: HERE’S WHY IT’S BAD FOR NJ

Last week, three Republican lawmakers slammed the Healthy Terminals Act, alleging that it will give airport workers privileges that other workers in the state don’t have.

Ironically, the bill may also increase labor costs and jeopardize jobs at the airport, hurting the very workers it intends to help, according to a joint statement from Assemblyman Brian Bergen (District 25), Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce (District 26) and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (District 13).

“There is a reality, when you do this and you increase the cost of labor beyond the threshold of what is appropriate, you end up costing jobs,” Scharfenberger said.

DeCroce alleged the bill “doesn’t distinguish between full-time and part-time employees, when every other employer in the state currently offers workers benefits based on their hours.”

“I’m just trying to point something out to be fair and equitable to everybody, and that we just don’t pick certain groups that we help,” DeCroce said.

Bergen called the proposed law a “small business-killing bill,” and alleged that it’s just the “tip of the hat” when it comes to what the future may hold in store for small businesses in New Jersey.

“This bill is giving [Newark Airport workers] a litany of different privileges and benefits that are not available to everybody else, just because one particular group has got the ear of the majority party,” Bergen argued.

The lawmakers pointed out that the Port Authority already has a minimum wage schedule in place that raises the bar in New Jersey.

In 2018, JFK International, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International airports adopted a policy that raises the minimum wage for their workers to $17 in 2021, $18 in 2022 and $19 in 2023.

• See related article: Airport Workers Win 'Highest Min. Wage In US' After Long Battle
• See related article: Climb To Nation's Highest Minimum Wage Begins At NJ, NY Airports

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