Airport workers, employer at standoff over safety calls

KYLIE MARSH | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Employees gather at the Charlotte office of ABM, a contractor to American Airlines at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, to confront management with demands for workplace safety improvements on July 21, 2025.

Workers at ABM, a support services contractor for American Airlines at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, delivered a demands letter to management on Monday to improve conditions on the job. 

Airport temperature at Charlotte Douglas was 92 degrees at 11 a.m., when workers and supporters wearing purple Service Employees International Union t-shirts showed up to deliver their demands. ABM employees have been vocal about unsafe conditions which create a cycle of high turnover. Cited in their petition were lack of mandated breaks, access to cold water and paid sick leave. North Carolina has no state labor protections for extreme weather. 

In an e-mail distributed to ABM employees the day prior, company management warned that “union agents may attempt to convince [employees] to leave work during your shifts to participate in these activities,” reminding workers that “employees who refuse to work will not be paid for hours not worked,” and that “employees who participate in a strike or work stoppage are also not eligible for unemployment benefits.” 

Delivering demands is legally protected activity, SEIU organizer Jacob Plittman said. He believes the email was an attempt to intimidate workers from documenting their complaints to management. One worker shared with The Post he received a phone call from human resources at ABM threatening his Temporary Protection Status should he participate, which is also false. 

The U.S. State Department maintains that migrants with TPS have the right to ask for help from a labor union free from retaliation. The National Labor Relations Act also mandates that making complaints and demands of management is legal and protected. 

Antijuan Loven, ABM’s general manager in Charlotte, met SEIU organizer Seneca Davis at the door to the office but refused to allow a contingent of about 30 employees and supporters into the building. Love said he would allow four workers to come in, but they declined and remained at the front door in the heat. 

The Rev. Ben Boswell of Collective Liberation Church, city council member LaWana Mayfield, and state Reps. Beth Helfrich and Jordan Lopez were also in attendance. In their attempts to speak with Loven, Helfrich and Lopez said it felt “confrontational.” 

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