Airport workers won predictable schedules, higher wages. Can they win affordable health care, too?
Kojuah Siaga Moore went to the hospital with chest pains in the spring. Later this year, his wife, pregnant with their fourth child, also went to the hospital for lab tests for her pregnancy. The cost of both visits, which came in under their
Moore’s predicament isn’t unique 2018-- many low-wage workers choose not to get insurance through their employer because it’s too expensive and comes with too many out-of-pocket costs, and workers are shouldering more of the burden of health-care costs. But what is unique is that he and his coworkers, already having won significant gains in the last few years, are picking yet another battle: Its union
>> READ MORE: It took 6 years for
Workers lobbied city government for higher wages in 2014; wheelchair attendants and baggage handlers, unionized with 32BJ SEIU, were able to double their pay to
The union hopes it could set a standard for workers at the airport. 32BJ’s workers, for example, don’t get health care as part of their contract.
On average, workers who get insurance through their employers pay 29 percent of the premium for family insurance, according to a 2018
“The health insurance policy that covers OTG’s crew members is the same for every eligible person in the company," an OTG spokesperson said, "and the out-of-pocket costs related to the insurance are being discussed as we begin contract negotiations.” An LSG spokesperson said that it does not comment on negotiations but that “pay and benefits are subject to good faith negotiations between our company and the union.”
The airport, championed by Kenney and city officials as an economic engine for
OTG, run by
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