Thousands of Los Angeles city workers hit the picket lines Tuesday for a massive one-day strike that will likely disrupt services across the city after bargaining negotiations with the city broke down.
At Los Angeles International Airport, which employs at least 1,000 union members, dozens of mechanics and custodians were marching before dawn. By 7:30 a.m., the crowd had grown to about 100.
“L.A. city you’re no good,” the workers chanted, as travelers wheeled their suitcases by. “Treat your workers like you should.”
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 decades. Throngs of workers in purple shirts demanding higher pay and better working conditions are expected to protest into the late evening at the airport, City Hall and dozens of other locations across the city.
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.
Los Angeles city workers hit the picket lines at LAX for a massive one-day strike.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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 across the airport’s terminals. 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 been employed with the city for two decades.
Sotelo said she and her colleagues are stressed scrubbing bathroom after 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 the cost of living. 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.”
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has pledged the city will not shut down for the one-day strike. Libraries, preschools and day-care facilities operated by the city are expected to be open as usual. Firefighters and police officers will continue as normal. So will city-offered homeless and housing services.
But others services will be disrupted for the day: Trash won’t be picked up, congestion is likely at big events with traffic control officers on picket lines, and city animal shelters will be closed, along with at least some city pools.
Los Angeles World Airports warned travelers to leave extra time coming and going from LAX. Dae Levine, a spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports, said the airport is working to ensure “operations will continue as close to normal as possible,” but recommended passengers arrive earlier than they usually would for their flight.
As of Tuesday morning, the march caused little disruption inside the airport as travelers approached the ticketing counters at the international terminal. Traffic in the infamously crowded horseshoe drop-off areas continued trickling by.
Airport security will be staffed as normal. The union has given LAX security workers permission to cross the picket line.
Devonte Butler, a 33-year-old maintenance and construction worker at LAX, said he’s frustrated with long days and work that’s contracted out. Butler, a father of two, said it’s not unusual for him to work a 12-hour shift.
“We are understaffed and overworked,” he added. “We are working around the clock to catch up.”
Rachel Uranga, Rebecca Ellis
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