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Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson attended today a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on "Oversight of Working Conditions for Airline Ground Workers." Led by the Subcommittee on Aviation, the forum featured Miami-Dade County Commissioner Ellen Higgins, Miami International Airport ramp worker Esteban Barrios, union and other industry-related representatives.

The Florida lawmaker introduced Barrios, whom she met last April at a roundtable discussion she hosted in Miami to hear from airline ground workers employed by the subcontractor Eulen America who have for years been forced to endure dangerous working conditions and low pay.

A months-long effort by Barrios and his coworkers led to an OSHA investigation and eight citations for serious violations that created unsafe working conditions, including cockroach infestations, excessive heat "causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees," and harmful noise levels. Congresswoman Wilson also has written to American and Delta airlines' CEOs, which contract with Eulen at Miami International Airport, to seek answers on how they would address the "unacceptable" treatment of employees and working conditions. In addition, she repeatedly urged the aviation subcommittee to hold a hearing on the issue.

"In early February, tens of thousands of people from all over the world will travel to Miami Gardens to experience Super Bowl LIV and celebrate the 100th season of the NFL. Unbeknownst to the thousands of passengers who will land at South Florida airports will be the plight of the ground workers who do everything they can to ensure that they can retrieve their bags in a timely manner, despite low wages and dangerous working conditions," the Florida lawmaker noted at the hearing. "Today's hearing sheds light on deeply troubling working conditions that have for too long festered in the shadows at airports throughout our nation and demand congressional action."

In his testimony, Barrios recounted in riveting detail a typical day spent loading and unloading bags from Delta planes.

"It's a very dangerous job. We're out in the hot sun all day, working with heavy equipment, right beside the planes. We're supposed to unload the luggage and get it to baggage claim in only 20 minutes. When I first started working at the airport, we used to have five people per shift," he explained. "But Eulen keeps cutting down the number of workers and now we're down to three or four. Sometimes I'm lifting almost 300 bags a day by myself. My whole body hurts. My hand is constantly in pain. But, what can we do? We don't have sick days so we can't take a day off to get better. So, we just take pain killers and try to get through the day."

Sadly, Barrios's experience is shared by airline workers across the nation. The conditions under which they work are particularly egregious because American airlines are making billions of dollars while paying employees a pittance. Many airline ground workers earn less than $10 per hour, cannot afford health insurance and sometimes must take drastic steps, like selling blood plasma, to make ends meet. Moreover, their employers are extremely resistant to the workers' right to organize and collectively bargain for better working conditions, benefits and wages. Those who dare to speak up more often than not face retaliatory actions.

"I have seen firsthand the intimidating tactics used by Eulen to keep workers quiet about unsanitary and unsafe working conditions," said Higgins, who plans to introduce legislation to implement a new procurement process that will hold companies like Eulen more accountable for the way they treat employees. "We must take action at all levels of government to protect our workers from subcontractors that are bad actors."

Congresswoman Wilson, who chairs the Education and Labor Committee's Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, expects today's hearing will be the first of many.

"I am committed to continuing to fight for these workers until every violation is resolved and look forward to working with my colleagues on legislation to address the issues highlighted today," she said.