Thousands of Los Angeles city workers hit the picket lines Tuesday for a massive one-day strike that could impair services across the city.
At Los Angeles International Airport, which employs at least 1,000 union members, dozens of strikers were marching before dawn. Most were mechanics and custodians.
“If we don’t get it, shut it down,” the workers chanted.
Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents 7,000 city workers, began the strike at 12:01 a.m. — the first major walkout by Los Angeles city government workers in over a decade.
The strike will bring workers from across city departments — lifeguards, traffic officers, airport custodians, engineers and sanitation workers — to the picket lines. Union leaders say dozens of spots across the city — including LAX, the Port of Los Angeles and City Hall — will face walkouts by union members over what they say are unfair labor practices by the city.
SEIU President David Green said members are frustrated with the large number of vacancies within city agencies that have forced employees to work long hours.
“It’s more work for less money,” said Ana Altamirano, a 60-year-old airport custodian.
Altamirano, who works the graveyard shift, normally scrubs toilets and polishes floors in the terminals.
She came out to strike, she said, because she and her colleagues have seen their workload double since COVID-19 arrived. During the pandemic, when the airport was nearly empty, custodians were asked to cover more terrain. As travelers poured back in as the pandemic ebbed, there were no longer enough custodians to keep the terminals tidy, she said.
Another airport custodian, Hilda Sotelo, 49, said the sprawling terminals once had double the cleaning staff. Last year, 66 million passengers made their way through the airport — the most since the pandemic.
“There’s not enough time to do” the work, said Sotelo, who has worked for the city for two decades.
Sotelo said she and her colleagues are stressed running from bathroom to bathroom trying to keep them clean. When they go on break, she said, passengers hail them for directions or other information.
“We are doing the work of three people,” she said.
Other workers protesting Tuesday said their wages hadn’t kept up with how much it cost to live in the region.
Joe Martinez, a 52-year-old construction equipment service worker at LAX, said his commute to work from West Covina can take more than 90 minutes because he can’t afford a home in Los Angeles. He said he makes in the mid-$60,000s.
He counts himself lucky. Many of his colleagues live even farther away, in suburbs such as Moreno Valley.
“We want to get respect from the city to go back to the bargaining table,” said Martinez, who has worked for the city for eight years. “Our biggest thing is cost of living.”
The early-morning march caused little disruption inside the airport as travelers trickled up to the ticketing counters at the international terminal. Traffic in the infamously crowded horseshoe drop-off areas continued moving by.
Dae Levine, a spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports, said LAX is working to ensure “operations will continue as close to normal as possible,” but recommended passengers arrive earlier than they normally would for their flight.
Airport security will be staffed as usual, however. The union has given LAX security workers permission to cross the picket line.
