Why improving conditions for service workers can solve chaos at airports

The airport is part of my family’s history – my grandmother worked for American Airlines. I’m following in her footsteps working as a baggage services officer at DFW International Airport.

I love interacting with people and being a part of their journeys — folks coming home after a long time away, or getting ready for the trip of a lifetime. But as many travelers have noticed, air travel has become incredibly chaotic. Over Juneteenth weekend, TSA screened the highest number of passengers in a single day since 2019, the fourth-highest number ever on record. My co-workers and I did everything we could to ensure folks’ holiday travel went smoothly, but without the support we need from our employers, it’s an impossible task.

What passengers experience are the long lines, delays and last minute changes, but what you don’t see are service workers like me giving it our all to get you where you’re going. It’s the janitors and cabin cleaners, skycaps and baggage handlers and passenger service professionals who make air travel possible — and we’re struggling. Good jobs are the foundation of good airports that keep the public safe and help passengers get to their destinations on time. But unfortunately good jobs are few and far between at airports, especially in service positions.

Airlines created this mess, and it’s time they fix it.

Keeping airports running on skeleton crews is an exhausting, uphill battle. Without the wages and benefits we need to survive, we’re severely understaffed, and the turnover rates are sky high. It’s a dangerous cycle, leading to greater numbers of experienced workers quitting, which increases stress for those of us still on the job and undermines the safe and efficient operations of airports nationwide, as outlined recently by The Wall Street Journal.

Even though I’m paid $15 per hour, it’s still not enough to support me and my family living in a city like Dallas. I have to pay out of pocket for most of our medical expenses because I don’t get coverage through my work. I care about my job and work hard for my customers. It’s not right that I can’t afford to pay my bills while airlines make huge profits despite adding to a travel crisis and exacerbating staffing shortages nationwide.

My story is not unique. Wages for the airport service workforce have barely budged in 20 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, despite the fact that we’re taking on bigger workloads because of staffing shortages. We don’t have paid sick days, and forget about health care benefits. And it’s primarily Black, brown and immigrant workers who do the lowest-paid jobs in the industry — another example of corporate greed fueling systemic racism.

Frustration and inconvenience don’t have to be an inevitable part of flying. My co-workers and I are doing our best to keep airports safe, secure and accessible, but ultimately it’s up to major airlines to fix our broken air travel system. That’s why I’m raising my voice alongside airport service workers across the country to demand good jobs with good benefits.

We’re also looking to our elected officials to stand by us. The air travel industry benefits from billions in federal dollars every year, but major airlines are failing to improve conditions for both travelers and airport workers. Instead, they’re banking record revenue while passengers and workers alike are forced to deal with travel chaos.

That’s why we’re calling on Congress to include the wage and benefit standards within the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act as part of the FAA reauthorization to ensure that public money serves the public good — not just corporate executives and shareholders. We need policies in place that compel airlines to support a stable airport workforce, and the airport jobs act would do just that by requiring fair wages and benefits like affordable health care and paid time off for airport service workers.

As you gear up for a busy summer of travel, I’m asking you to remember that airport workers are the ones who help make it possible, and we need your support. The air travel system isn’t working for anyone but a few people at the top, and it’s time for Congress to do its job and step in to protect the workers and travelers whose votes they rely on.

The status quo is clearly unacceptable. It is also completely solvable if we take the right steps. Prioritizing the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act standards within the FAA reauthorization should be the start.

Joy Vaughn is a baggage services officer at DFW International Airport. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.