FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 26, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 17
LaGuardia Airport workers demand Governor
Cuomo sign Healthy Terminals Act into law
BY TODD MAISEL
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Scores of airport workers and elected
leaders rallied last week for better healthcare
benefi ts at LaGuardia Airport ahead
of the busy Th anksgiving travel season.
Leaders of the Local 32BJ of the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU)
asked Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign
the “Healthy Terminals Act” (HTA) into
law. Some union members held held
empty Th anksgiving platters and signs
saying “Th ank Me with Healthcare” and
“Give Th anks, Give Healthcare.” Members
say health benefi ts will cost them much of
what they earn each month without state
intervention.
Th e New York legislature passed the
Health Terminals Act in July of this year
and it would provide 25,000 workers
with access to aff ordable, quality health
insurance, leaders say. Leaders say the
Th anksgiving holiday could fi ll New York’s
airports in the coming days as COVID-19
cases are on the rise in New York and in
many parts of the country.
While travelers make their way to
friends and families, essential airport service
workers struggle to protect themselves,
leaders claimed.
If signed into law,
the bill would provide
health insurance
to cabin and terminal
cleaners, baggage
handlers, security offi -
cers, customer assistance
employees, skycaps and
other subcontracted airport
workers.
“Th is is an issue of racial
justice,” said 32BJ SEIU
President Kyle Bragg to a
socially distanced crowd.
“Right now, thousands of
Black and Brown frontline
airport workers do
not have health care in
the midst of a global pandemic.
Th e bill, which airport
workers pushed to pass
in both chambers in the summer, would
keep workers and the public safe by putting
aff ordable health care within reach
for frontline airport workers. COVID-19
cases are going up and many New Yorkers
are about to take fl ight at this airport to
unite with loved ones for Th anksgiving.
Workers do this job without very much
protection. Th ey do
it without healthcare.”
Essential workers,
including 32BJ airport
workers, have gotten
sick and died from
COVID-19 while
others struggle
with managing
t hous ands
of dollars
in medical
bills,
B r a g g
said.
Numerous elected offi cials joined the
chorus calling for passage of the legislation.
Manhattan State Senator Brad Hoylman,
a sponsor of the bill, said it was incumbent
upon them to provide health insurance for
people who can’t ill aff ord to pay for it.
“Th ank you all 25,000 of you for being
out on the front lines during the pandemic,”
Hoylman said. “Th ank you for risking
your lives, your families lives and your
health during COVID-19. And you know
how we repay you for that, we passed the
Healthy Terminals Act.”
Comptroller Scott Stringer said that
while the city recovers, “we will not leave
our airport workers behind.”
“Th e Healthy Terminals Act gives you
the opportunity to take care of your family
to make sure that there is safety in the
household,” Stringer said. “You risk your
lives keeping the city going, keeping the
airports going. You have always played
that role. But time and time again you
have faced discrimination. You have been
cast aside by the executives who reap hundreds
of millions of dollars because of the
work you’re doing. Well, we’ve got to level
this playing fi eld.”
“Th anksgiving is a special holiday,”
said Gale Brewer, Manhattan borough
Photos by Todd Maisel
president, who was joined on stage by
Queens Borough President-elect Donovan
Richards. “But it’s only a special holiday
when 32BJ gets the Healthy Terminals Act.
We know that the union fi ghts and that’s
what we are going to do with you because
you are essential workers and you need to
be provided with quality healthcare. I want
to thank airport workers, just like so many
other workers — you have been on the
front lines our nation’s airports forever.”
Teresa Peralta, a terminal cleaner at JFK,
said her job is not safe.
“I have been on the front lines every
day that I wasn’t sick with COVID,” said
Peralta. “It’s my job to protect passengers
and everyone who works here by keeping
the terminal clean during the pandemic.
When you have thousands of workers
who can’t aff ord to go to the doctor working
together, it’s not a safe place.”
Th e landmark Healthy Terminals Act
comes as the airline industry received a
$50 billion taxpayer bailout through the
CARES Act, with billions more expected.
Th e HTA will require employers at
New York airports to compensate workers,
including sub-contracted passenger services
workers, with a benefi ts supplement
of at least $4.54 an hour that they can use
to acquire the quality health insurance.
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