Looming Strike at Major U.S. Airport Could Disrupt Memorial Day Travel Plans

A looming strike at a major U.S. airport is threatening to disrupt Memorial Day travel plans across the country.

The New York Post reported that employees at New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport who work to refuel the planes are threatening to begin a strike on Friday morning, just as the busy holiday weekend kicks into gear.

The encroaching shut-down stems from a dispute between Teamsters Local 553, the union which represents 300 workers and mechanics who refuel jets at JFK, and contractor Allied Aviation Services. The 553 contends they’ve been working without a collective bargaining agreement since June 2023, despite having had continuous contracts with Allied Aviation for decades.

“We have been without a contract for almost a year, and Allied Aviation has not been negotiating in good faith since they are conditioning any new contract on our forfeiting our right to strike and fight for our members in the future. That is simply a non-starter for us,” Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 553, told NYP.

Allied Aviation is the sole provider of fuel for jets at JFK, meaning the airport is prohibited from using another company to deliver, receive, test, and store jet fuel. Demopoulos contends that Allied is trying to stifle Local 553’s right to strike.

“We will never give up the right to strike and fight for our members, a right granted to us by the National Labor Relations Act,” Demopoulos promised. “This has been a coordinated effort by Allied at airports across the country to have unions give up on this jurisdiction issue,” he continued. “They are trying to get other unions to give up their rights in exchange for a contract. They might have succeeded in some cities, but they failed against us at Newark, and they will fail again here at JFK.”

JFK is overseen by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. When asked how officials planned to deal with a prospective strike, Port Authority spokesperson Seth Stein told NYP, “We will work closely with our airport partners to minimize any disruptions over this busy holiday travel weekend. We have no involvement in negotiations between our contractor and their unionized staff.”

During a similar strike in 2005, Allied used members of its management team to refuel jets.

Brian Xavier, Allied’s on-site general manager at JFK, told the outlet he was “not aware” of any impending strike. “I can’t comment on this,” Xavier said.