Newark Airport Workers Rally for Respect

United Airlines recently announced its intention to spend $120 million to bring fine dining to EWR. With that, workers at Newark airport are beginning to question their importance to the business and are planning to fight for respect.

Airport workers will be gathering in numbers on Thursday November 20, to deliver the recent Wage Theft Report to United Offices and will be calling on the airline to respect airport workers.

Workers are calling on United to tell PrimeFlight, a major contractor at EWR, to respect workers. PrimeFlight airport workers in New Jersey and New York will be performing acts of solidarity in hope of gaining better pay and working conditions, improved health and safety and proper training.

PrimeFlight is a Nashville, TN-based airline contractor, with over 5,000 employees, a presence at 44 airports nationwide, including Newark Airport, and an estimated annual revenues of $30 million.

Between 2010 and 2013, the company has paid to settle at least five OSHA health and safety citations. Similarly since 2005, PrimeFlight has paid $1.4 million in settlements, back pay and penalties for employee wage-and-hour claims.

Dozens of Newark airport contracted passengers services workers, cabin cleaners, and other airport workers are expected to gather by the Dunkin Donuts on the third floor of Terminal C arrivals. From there they will proceed to the United Airlines office on the third floor.

The protesters are expected to be joined by three prominent community religious leaders: Moacir Weinrich, a pastor at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Newark, Ronald Tuff, a minister at First Bethel Baptist Church in Irvington and Robert Jackson, a pastor at Israel Memorial AME Church in Newark.