On the Picket Line

Ramp workers protest working conditions at Miami airport

By Cindy Jaquith
July 22, 2019

MIAMI — Several dozen nonunion ramp workers held a rally here June 27 to protest working conditions at Eulen America, which provides flight services to Delta and American Airlines.

Although many of the workers make $15 to $16 an hour, their health insurance costs are in the range of $600 monthly, baggage handler Fran Alonso told the Militant.

Where he works, Alonso said, there is no air conditioning and frequently no drinking water available, despite the punishing Miami heat and humidity. Workers load between 500 and 1,000 pieces of luggage in each seven-hour shift. Eulen refuses to hire more staff. “Even one more person on the shift could make a difference,” he said.

Other signs workers carried called for more safety on the job and an end to harassment of workers who speak out about dangerous conditions.

Several other Miami airport workers joined the action, as did a couple of area Walmart workers. The rally was organized by Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which seeks to organize workers at Eulen.