By IVANNA MACHUCA
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte on Thursday backed a bill in Albany to increase wages to $15 an hour for striking aircraft cleaners at JFK Airport before 2018.
“It should not take so much striking and battling with management to give all of us what we deserve,” said Bichotte standing next to the MTA bus stops near Terminal Five in front of the protesters from SEIU 32BJ “All we’re asking is for a fair wage.”
she said that she planned to introduce a bill in the State Assembly to better than match the proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to boost the minimum wage for state workers to $15 an hour by 2018.
“And we’re not talking about $15 in 2018 because I don’t support that,” said Bichotte. “I’m talking about $15 now.”
The strikers at the protest were employed Ultimate Aircraft and Roma, both contract cleaning companies that work with Jetblue at Terminal Five. The protesters were part of a nationwide walkout on Wednesday night at both JFK and LaGuardia airports. Other airports included in the strike were Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and airports in Florida, Boston and Philadelphia.
Ultimate Aircraft and Roma did not return requests for comment before deadline.
(
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.