Obama Supports LAX Strikers

CNS - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced his support last Thursday for airline service workers at Los Angeles International Airport—six days after those employees put down their picket signs and returned to work. The employees who provide “curb-to-cabin” services for major airlines at LAX returned to work August 29, one day after they went on strike over issues of wages, benefits and allegedly unfair labor practices. The return to work was part of a three-week “cooling-off” period, during which time the Service Employees International Union Local 1877 agreed to refrain from picketing the airport. A spokesman for Obama’s campaign was not immediately available to comment on the timing of his support.

“Today, I stand with the airline service workers on strike at Los Angeles International Airport. The demands they’re fighting for aren’t unreasonable—access to health care, adequate training, proper equipment, wages that can support a family—that’s what America’s workers deserve,” the senator said in a statement.

“Their efforts send a strong signal that it’s not good for workers, passengers or the industry when business fails to live up to its end of the bargain,” he said.

The 2,500 airline service workers, who earn about $10 an hour, are not employed by the airlines, but by sub-contractors Aero Port Services, Air Serv, American Building Maintenance, Aviation Safeguards, Lee’s Maintenance, One Source, Service Performance, World Service and G2 Secure Staff.

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