In the midst of new contract bargaining, PHL airport contractors demand back wages they say they are owed

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KYW Newsradio) — About 100 subcontractors working at the airport turned out in numbers Tuesday at the American Airlines terminal to demand that their employer pay them wages that were promised to them.

About 1,500 security guards, baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and others who make up the union 32BJ SEIU are bargaining for a new contract with Prospect Airport Services after their old one expired this month.

In the midst of negotiations, Mayor Cherelle Parker came to the airport and told workers their pay would rise to an hourly rate of $17.20 because of an increase encoded in the city’s prevailing wage law, which went into effect Jan. 1 — but workers say their paychecks have not changed.

“Everybody was looking forward to their first check having their back pay and they’re getting their retro,” said Rikki Cornitcher, an American Airlines passenger special assistance agent. “There’s a lot of people that was already calculating what they were going to use that money for.”

Cornitcher says it isn’t fair to force her and other union members to shout in the street to get what’s due to them.

“Everybody was excited, having the mayor come out — just for it to end up like this again. But I definitely feel like this is definitely what is needed, so they know that we’re not letting it go,” she said.

Daisy Cruz with the union says making sure wages rise is crucial.

“We have the workers there and making sure to let them know that this is what the law is. This is the prevailing wage law. You are not above the law,” Cruz said.

Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas rallied with the workers.

“More and more, average everyday working Philadelphians are being put in a position where they’re forced to work a full-time job to live in poverty — or sometimes two jobs and still remain in poverty — and that’s not right,” Thomas said.

“So we have to make sure we’re on the forefront of supporting the working class people of Philadelphia, and that’s why I’m here.”

Neither Prospect Airport Services nor American Airlines has returned KYW Newsradio’s requests for comment.