BWI Food and Retail Workers Demand Better Pay, Working Conditions

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)What if your job went from a full-time position paying $11-12 per hour with benefits to just $8-9 per hour with no benefits and no guarantee of more than four hours of work per shift? That's what’s happened to 800 food service and retail workers at BWI airport in recent years, and now they're standing up to say they've had enough, staging a protest on Wednesday at the airport. Tracy Lingo, a spokesperson for Unite Here Local 7, reports that when the contracting company that used to handle employing and paying all of the workers was replaced by Airmall, the new company shifted responsibility for hiring and payment back on to the individual retail and food vendors, forcing them to compete for contracts in a race to the bottom that has left workers struggling. "We need a better model at the airport," said Lingo. The workers invite  supporters to join them in demonstrating for better pay and working conditions this Wednesday, April 3 at 3p outside the Southwest departure gates at BWI. - report by Mariya Strauss