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Newark Airport Workers Flying High After Three-Year Battle for Contract
For transportation workers at Newark Airport, the road to a contract was a maddening fight against a company with no regard for labor law and a habit of refusing to sign agreements reached verbally at the bargaining table.
But the workers, members of CWA Local 1032 in Trenton, N.J., stuck together, increased their ranks and refused to give in. And in June, after three years of fighting for their rights, 27 ground transportation agents and 60 taxi dispatchers got a contract — a good one.
“The length of time speaks for itself,” Local 1032 President Jim Marketti said, describing the frustration. “It was a tremendous victory.”
The contract, which was ratified unanimously, brings all the workers’ base hourly wages to $15.75 over three years. Presently, ground agents start at $12.72 an hour. Taxi dispatchers start at just $10.43 an hour. The raises are retroactive to Feb. 1, 2000.
Additionally, CWA won improvements in vacation, holiday, sick leave and medical benefits, including new benefits for part-time workers. The contract also ensures seniority rights for promotions, work assignments, shift choices and layoffs.
The bargaining unit was organized in 1997 among the airport’s ground transportation agents, employed by Unique Security Guard Service Inc. In 1999, the company tried to have the union decertified. Local 1032 not only won the second election but organized the taxi dispatchers, also Unique Security workers.
Three times, CWA and Unique Security reached agreement at the table, but the company refused to sign the papers and demanded new concessions. At the time of the settlement, Marketti said the National Labor Relations Board was close to issuing a complaint against the company for bad-faith bargaining.
CWA members had support from dozens of other unions, as well as labor councils and the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. “We became the poster child for the difficulty that newly organized workers have in obtaining their first contract,” Marketti said.
The local planned two large-scale demonstrations. On May 11, several hundred union members picketed and marched inside the terminal, disrupting taxi services. Area CWA locals sent delegations, along with the Machinists, Teamsters and other unions. “It was a wonderful show of solidarity,” Marketti said.
A second round of picketing was scheduled for June 15, but the day before, the company reached agreement with both groups of employees and signed contracts. The demonstration turned into a victory rally.
“What pushed them over the edge, I think, was the cost of policing our demonstration,” Marketti said, noting that the Port Authority had brought in many extra officers from other locations on overtime in May. “It caused them to rethink the price of cheap labor.”
The hard-fought win is a “victory for all of New Jersey organized labor,” Marketti said, but isn’t the end of the road.
“We are building on this victory to reach out and organize 2,000 more non-union employees of contractors at Newark Airport,” he said.
But the workers, members of CWA Local 1032 in Trenton, N.J., stuck together, increased their ranks and refused to give in. And in June, after three years of fighting for their rights, 27 ground transportation agents and 60 taxi dispatchers got a contract — a good one.
“The length of time speaks for itself,” Local 1032 President Jim Marketti said, describing the frustration. “It was a tremendous victory.”
The contract, which was ratified unanimously, brings all the workers’ base hourly wages to $15.75 over three years. Presently, ground agents start at $12.72 an hour. Taxi dispatchers start at just $10.43 an hour. The raises are retroactive to Feb. 1, 2000.
Additionally, CWA won improvements in vacation, holiday, sick leave and medical benefits, including new benefits for part-time workers. The contract also ensures seniority rights for promotions, work assignments, shift choices and layoffs.
The bargaining unit was organized in 1997 among the airport’s ground transportation agents, employed by Unique Security Guard Service Inc. In 1999, the company tried to have the union decertified. Local 1032 not only won the second election but organized the taxi dispatchers, also Unique Security workers.
Three times, CWA and Unique Security reached agreement at the table, but the company refused to sign the papers and demanded new concessions. At the time of the settlement, Marketti said the National Labor Relations Board was close to issuing a complaint against the company for bad-faith bargaining.
CWA members had support from dozens of other unions, as well as labor councils and the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. “We became the poster child for the difficulty that newly organized workers have in obtaining their first contract,” Marketti said.
The local planned two large-scale demonstrations. On May 11, several hundred union members picketed and marched inside the terminal, disrupting taxi services. Area CWA locals sent delegations, along with the Machinists, Teamsters and other unions. “It was a wonderful show of solidarity,” Marketti said.
A second round of picketing was scheduled for June 15, but the day before, the company reached agreement with both groups of employees and signed contracts. The demonstration turned into a victory rally.
“What pushed them over the edge, I think, was the cost of policing our demonstration,” Marketti said, noting that the Port Authority had brought in many extra officers from other locations on overtime in May. “It caused them to rethink the price of cheap labor.”
The hard-fought win is a “victory for all of New Jersey organized labor,” Marketti said, but isn’t the end of the road.
“We are building on this victory to reach out and organize 2,000 more non-union employees of contractors at Newark Airport,” he said.