Cleaners and security guards all over the world ensure that we all have access to safe and clean airport facilities. And although airports are becoming wealthy commercial centres, cleaners and security guards are not sharing in this wealth.
The air freight industry is growing more than 100 times faster than the global economy. In the 21st century, entire cities are being built around airports. Developments in Amsterdam and Hong Kong are prime examples.
58,000 people are employed daily at Schiphol airport. Office space next door to Schiphol costs more per square metre than an open loft on one of the city's picturesque 17th-century canals. Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport employs 45,000 workers, and there are more to come at SkyCity, a complex of office towers, convention centers, and hotels next to the airport.
In the Netherlands, cleaners at Schiphol Airport earn less than €9 per hour. Cleaners and security guards in US airports can earn as little as US$5.15, whilst their counterparts in Hong Kong have no minimum wage protection.
15 June is International Justice Day. It’s a day that cleaners and security workers mark each year as a reminder of our global connections. The day was first celebrated in the United State in 1990 and was known as Justice for Janitors Day.” The day was established after cleaners in Los Angeles were beaten by police during a peaceful demonstration against a multinational cleaning firm. Pressure from cleaners who belonged to unions in other countries helped the Los Angeles cleaners eventually win justice.
This year, cleaners and security guards are standing together, in airports across the world, to fight for a better deal at work and for a fair share of the wealth they help to create.
Support justice for cleaners and security guards NOW.
Have a look at what happened around the world on 15 June this year. |  | |