Miguel was planning on spending his New Year’s Eve the way he had every year prior, at church with his family. He had less than an hour left of his eight-hour shift at LaGuardia Airport, when his supervisor implemented mandatory overtime for him and the other ramp agents working that evening. Airlines were short-staffed and it was a busy night for arrivals. Miguel didn’t stay. His contract states he is not obligated to work overtime if the request is not made at least two hours before the end of a shift. When Miguel returned to work his supervisor suspended him.
Miguel, who requested a pseudonym, is confident his suspension, the first he has received since working as ramp agent for Swissport International, was an act of retaliation for speaking out about his working conditions and participating in organizing activities.
Miguel is part of an intricate web of hierarchies: LGA is owned by New York City, managed by the Port Authority, and operated by numerous airlines, who use companies, such as Swissport, to contract their employees. Swissport is a multinational company that manages airport ground services and air cargo staffing for airlines such as Spirit and Air Canada, in the case of LGA. The company, who has long resisted unionization for LGA ramp workers, has 48,000 employees across 287 airports.
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