BOSTON (7 February 2018) - City Councilor Lydia Edwards filed a resolution this week supporting a Boston Logan Airport workers strike against JetBlue subcontractors FSS and ReadyJet for intimidation and threats.
"These workers are the backbone of what keeps our airport moving yet they are continually overlooked and undervalued at poverty wages,” says Councilor Edwards. “They deserve the dignity and respect to exercise their right to organize for improvements and rights while on the job, free from surveillance, threats or acts of intimidation."
The strike against FSS and Ready Jet comes after illegal work practices and intimidation against workers in their efforts to organize says SEIU 32BJ, the union representing the works and service employees around the Commonwealth. The union also states that while under sub-contract of JetBlue, both FSS and Ready Jet have violated labor laws and received numerous citations from both Massachusetts and federal agencies.
Airport workers have been forced to file charges for illegal surveillance, threats and intimidation of workers who are organizing for workplace changes, Boston City Councilor Edwards says filing the resolution is a message to both companies that enough is enough.
"Workers in this country have a legal right to organize and shouldn’t have to face illegal threats and intimidation when they do. Airline subcontractors are not above the law and we need to hold them accountable when they break it,” says Edwards.
"I will support these workers, many of whom live and work two to three jobs in East Boston, as they exercise their right to strike in the coming weeks. They deserve to take peaceful action to build a better workplace and a better city for us all."
Source: Gabriela Coletta, (617) 635-3200 gabriela.coletta@boston.gov
