[IMAGECAPTION] Photo courtesy of Thinkstock [/IMAGECAPTION]
More than 400 airport service workers walked off the job this morning at Washington Reagan National Airport - and more are expected to do so this afternoon at Washington Dulles International - in a protest over the minimum wage.
The workers, including baggage handlers, wheelchair attendants, curbside luggage attendants and more, are seeking to make $15 an hour as contract workers for a private company, Huntleigh USA. The company could not be reached for comment this morning.
It is the first time that both D.C.-area airports are facing a strike at the same time.
Although approximately 400 workers walked off the job, the airport isn't antipating any delays.
Union officials with SEIU Local 32 say some of these workers make an average of $6.15 an hour and as little as $3.77 per hour with tips.
"We work very hard to ensure that travelers have a safe and clean airport, but we are ready to go on strike to ensure we can provide for our families," Aynalem Lale, a wheelchair dispatcher at Dulles, said in a statement provided by the union. "If I made $15 an hour, I wouldn't have to work two jobs and would not have to sleep at the airport between jobs."
Workers will attend the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority's final public meeting of 2016 later today, hoping for a vote on the $15 per hour wage hike.
The workers will be joined Wednesday by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, Virginia Senator Barbara Favola, and clergy and community supporters at a rally.
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