I make $12.50 an hour at the Charlotte airport and can’t afford rent. Here’s why we went on strike

A wheelchair attendant writes that his wages aren’t nearly enough to cover his basic needs, which is why he and his colleagues at the North Carolina airport went on strike.

Air travel this holiday season is on track to be as busy as ever. Already, Thanksgiving week saw a record number of passengers travel through our nation’s airports, including Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT), where I work. As Thanksgiving week kicked off, my coworkers and I made the difficult but necessary decision to walk out of our essential, frontline airport service jobs because airlines and corporations have created a poverty wage crisis.