More than 100 airport workers and union members were joined by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and other elected officials at Logan Airport to rally for fair working conditions and an end to the federal government shutdown on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday.
The rally was hosted by 32BJ Service Employees International Union to demand the “end of abuses” from Logan contractor Flight Services and Systems, according to a press release from SEIU.
Roxana Rivera, vice president of 32BJ SEIU, said before the rally that the reason workers were gathering was to highlight the struggles baggage handlers and wheelchair attendants faced by not receiving fair payments from FSS.
“We’re going to be first demanding an end to FSS wage theft here at the airport and really pushing for FSS and other airport contractors to respect the right for workers to organize and form a union,” Rivera said. “We think it’s in line with how we honor Martin Luther King’s day today.”
Rivera also said the purpose of the rally was to stand with furloughed Transportation Security Administration workers during the government shutdown that went into effect on Dec. 22, 2018.
“We believe that this is an unnecessary government shutdown,” Rivera said, “and we feel that folks need to be paid for the important work they do.”
Warren said during the rally that the government shutdown is a form of wage theft like what 32BJ SEIU workers are facing with FSS.
“President [Donald] Trump is holding the paychecks of 800,000 people across this country and 8,200 federal workers right here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Warren said. “He is holding every one of those paychecks hostage, and I know that includes many people’s who are here today.”
The government shutdown is not about border security, Warren said, but instead is intended to create hate and division in the country.
“Now the president wants to use dreamers and [Temporary Protected Status] recipients as bargaining chips — the same hard working people whose protections he single handedly took away,” Warren said. “But human beings are not bargaining chips. Open our government, protect our dreamers and respect our TPS, as well.”
Markey said during the rally that Trump must be sent a message to open up the government and pay TSA workers.
“[TSA workers] have been told that they will not be paid,” Markey said. “They will not be paid as they are working right here in this airport by the hundreds to protect us right now, to make sure that our security is protected, even as the security of their own families has been put at jeopardy by Donald Trump.”
Sonia Hernandez, a 32BJ worker, spoke at the rally about how she believed she was a victim of wage theft from FSS.
She said she was paid only half the amount of money she was owed in three of her paychecks. She has since filed a complaint with the Attorney General.
“I’m here because I have a dream that one day I won’t have to worry about being paid fairly for all the hours that I have worked,” Hernandez said. “Just like the TSA agents here today, I know what it’s like to work without pay. They’re suffering because of President Trump’s shutdown.”
Valyria Lewis, a national representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, said at the rally that workers should make a “conscious decision” not to be afraid of employers that threaten their rights.
“When you take away the element of fear, you take away these employers’ power over you,” Lewis said. “… Then still, you take away their power to discriminate against you.”
After the rally, when asked when she thought the government shutdown would be over, Warren said it was up to Trump to end the shutdown.
Alternatively, she said, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could call for another vote in the U.S. Senate for the defense and funding bill that was previously passed in September.
“We have two different paths to do this, and Republicans are blocking both of them,” Warren said.
Warren also said the shutdown is an “insult” to working people by Trump and the Republicans.
“We need to start by opening the government,” Warren said. “There are federal workers who are locked out of their jobs, there are federal workers who are coming to work, keeping us safe and not getting paid for it. Open the government.”
