About 50 workers at the Miami airport in southern Florida began a 24-hour strike today and staged a protest rally in front of one of the terminals.
The strikers say that the contractor company Ultra Aviation does not comply with paying them the salary that corresponds to them according to regulations of Miami-Dade County, since it pays them a salary that corresponds to employees with health insurance, but the plan that offers them Does not meet legal standards.
Workers, including porters, customer service agents, and wheelchair attendants allege that the contractor is subject to compliance with the Miami-Dade County Decent Wage Act, which establishes a minimum wage of 12 , $ 63 per hour plus “health benefits,” or $ 15.52 without any health plan.
That health plan is at the center of the discussion, in view of the workers’ belief that it does not meet minimum legal standards, while the company’s legal representative, Miguel De Grandy, affirms that health coverage complies With the county’s legal requirements and the Accessible Care Act, known as “Obamacare.”
Speaking to the Miami Herald, the lawyer said that the county law does not specify the parameters that determine that a health plan “qualifies,” and therefore does not understand that the company is said to be in breach of health coverage “when the ordinance Does not include the standards that the plan must meet. ”
The local subsidiary 32BJ of the SEIU union, one of the largest in the country, notes that the health coverage offered by the company consists of a “compensation plan” and sets cash payments for different medical procedures, such as disbursement Of a maximum of $ 250 for an emergency visit.
Many of the workers present at the demonstration today, attended by members of the union and sympathizers of the strikers, claim that on many occasions they have been unable to attend because their health plan has been rejected in medical centers.
The health plan is awarded to about 350 contractor part-time workers, a company that has been under investigation since last April by the Miami-Dade County Aviation Department, after more than 70 complaints filed by employees.
At the gathering today were Florida Senator Jose Javier Rodríguez and legislator Daisy Baez, of the Florida House of Representatives, among others.
Airport spokespersons said that the activities at the aerodrome were not affected by the strike, which will end on Friday, and that they are also determining that if the contractor meets the requirements of the Ordinance of the Dignified Salary.
