Airplane cabin cleaning crews at New York’s LaGuardia International Airport began a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, citing, in part, possible exposure to the Ebola virus. Meanwhile, a poll found most Americans want flights banned from Ebola-ravaged areas.
Around 200 Air Serv employees who work on domestic flights to LaGuardia began their strike on Wednesday evening. The group is seeking to unionize, and they said health and safety issues on the job – including exposure to blood, feces, and vomit without protective gear – are the main reasons. They are also concerned about possible exposure to the Ebola virus, which claimed its first victim in the United States on Wednesday.
airserv worker speaking out against unsafe working conditions #strikeairports #povertydoesntfly pic.twitter.com/AcYxVfW44q
— NY United (@1nyunited) October 9, 2014
“The whole country is shivering, worried about the problems of Ebola,” said Hector Figueroa, President of 32BJ Service Employees International Union, according to CBS New York.
“Airport workers are on the front line of protecting the public, to protect the public we have to protect the workers.”
laguardia terminal d cabin cleaners on strike! #povertydoesntfly pic.twitter.com/RbSc1zCDLS
— NY United (@1nyunited) October 9, 2014
Beginning Saturday, travelers from West African countries Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will be stopped and probed for signs of Ebola at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Four other major US airports – including Newark Liberty International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, and Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC – will follow with the health and travel screenings run by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and US Customs and Border Protection.
A new poll found a majority of Americans want flights banned from West African nations, where the latest Ebola outbreak is centered.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans supported the flight ban, according to a poll conducted in a collaboration between NBC News and SurveyMonkey. Twenty percent of respondents did not support a travel ban from the likes of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
As of earlier this week, neither the World Health Organization nor the White House endorsed an all-out travel ban to the US from affected nations.
“A travel ban is something that we’re not currently considering,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
Keep reading @ RT