Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has put his support behind BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport workers who claim their employer is not providing safe working conditions.
“I stand with 32BJ SEIU in support of workers at BWI who continue to face unsafe working conditions at Menzies Aviation,” Pittman said in a statement released by the union. “We depend on these workers to keep our airport running smoothly, so we must keep them safe.”
Pittman’s statement of support comes in the midst of a long-fought struggle for safe working conditions by BWI workers, who claim they are regularly exposed to dangerous chemicals at work from their employer — Menzies Aviation, PLC, an airline contractor at BWI and nearly 200 other airports around the world.
Pittman said he was contacted by the union, 32BJ SEIU regarding the issues. The union represents 173,000 members in 11 states but does not represent the workers at BWI. The union is helping with the workers’ complaints, said Julie Karant, a spokesperson for the union.
After considering their cause — and the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health violations Menzies has been previously cited with — Pittman put his support behind the workers.
“Safety is paramount,” he said. “These are hardworking people who are keeping the airport running.”
A Menzies spokesman did not respond to specific allegations on Thursday but said safety is the company’s number one priority.
“At BWI, we are continuously working with our employees to ensure that any valid concerns raised are immediately investigated and addressed if required,” Menzies spokesman Mickey Mandelbaum said in a statement.
This year BWI workers have filed two separate complaints against Menzies.
Pittman’s statement of support is limited to just that — it’s a statement, he said. There is no plan for him to be involved in their negotiations or anything else.
In April, one complaint detailed fuel leaks, malfunctioning equipment, and “prolonged and unaddressed issues,” according to the MOSH complaint.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a previous Baltimore Sun story that its annual inspection in April “did not identify non-compliance” with fire safety standards, but the agency pledged to “evaluate the concerns detailed by Menzies Aviation employees thoroughly."
Many of the issues have since been resolved, said Julie Karant, a spokesperson for 32BJ Service Employees International Union, but several issues are outstanding.
In a statement, the BWI workers claimed several more concerns:
They are not equipped with rubber aprons, eye or face equipment to protect against splashes while cleaning lead-acid batteries
They do not have adequate ventilation systems or respirators to use while cleaning lead batteries.
They have not been adequately trained on how to use PPE when cleaning lead-acid batteries.
Pittman said he decided to put his support behind the BWI workers because he thought he would contribute his voice effectively and would potentially consider doing the same thing again.
In this case, Pittman said he thinks most elected officials and most of the public would say the same thing:
“Fix the problems."
Baltimore Sun reporter Colin Campbell contributed to this story.
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