NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Workers at Norfolk International Airport (ORF) staged a protest on Sunday to ask for better wages.
More than 150 Piedmont Airlines workers took to the picket lines to demand better pay. Piedmont is a subsidiary of the American Airlines Group.
Workers said Piedmont currently offers a 16 cent raise over the course of five years — with pay starting at $12.50 an hour, only 41 cents higher than Virginia’s current minimum wage.
“All we are asking for is safer working conditions so that we can be safe out here, to make sure those planes get out on time, to make sure that we leave the same way we came on,” Ramp agent with American Airlines Yureacia Parker said. “Asking for better wages is not that much to ask when you’re only at $12.50 an hour and you do what we do to get these planes out.”
Airline officials said they have been bargaining since September of 2023 and have yet to receive a new contract.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates .
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.