Doctors Council Applauds De Blasio & Others for Their Support for Airport Workers

For Immediate Release
January 23, 2013

Doctors Council SEIU stands with Mayor Bill de Blasio and the growing number of people in fighting for a living wage and good benefits, including access to quality and affordable healthcare, for our city’s 12,000 airport service workers. We encourage others to add their support along with that of Congressman Charles Rangel and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

“We are proud that Mayor de Blasio has taken a strong stance in advocating for a living wage and good benefits for our city’s airport workers,” Dr. Frank Proscia, President of Doctors Council SEIU, said, “These workers provide vital services for millions of passengers each year. It is imperative that they have access to basic benefits, like health insurance, and paid holidays and sick time, so that they can stay healthy and keep our airports operating smoothly We also support these workers’ rights to form a union. All workers should have the right and ability to belong to a union to be able to speak out and together address issues that matter to them and the public they provide services to. ”

Thousands of these low-wage workers struggle to get by on their wages in one of the most expensive cities in the country. They often rely on food stamps or eat at food pantries, receive their health care from Medicaid, and receive Section 8 housing assistance and other public subsidies to make ends meet despite working full-time at the airport.

As other cities have done, the Port Authority must invest in passenger service workers as a way of investing in our airports and keeping our passengers healthy and safe.

 

About Doctors Council SEIU

Doctors Council SEIU, a professional organization for doctors, is the nation’s oldest and largest union of attending physicians and dentists in the United States, with members in New York City, and in states across the country. Formed in 1973, Doctors Council SEIU is a union for doctors and a voice for patients, and represents attending physicians and dentists at Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) facilities and hospitals, including doctors employed by the affiliates New York University School of Medicine, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the Physician Affiliate Group of New York (PAGNY). HHC is the largest public hospital system in the nation. Doctors Council SEIU also represents doctors in the New York City Mayoral agencies including the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) as well as doctors working at Rikers Island, the largest correctional facility in the nation. Affiliated with SEIU, Doctors Council SEIU is a national union representing doctors employed in the public and private sectors.