A group of aircraft fuelers at Orlando International Airport employed by contractor PrimeFlight Aviation unanimously voted to unionize Monday with the Transport Workers Union, a labor union that represents roughly 155,000 working people nationwide.
Out of 60 eligible voters, 42 of the aircraft fuelers at MCO voted in favor of the union, according to a union spokesperson, with zero votes in opposition. This is the first group of PrimeFlight employees anywhere to unionize with the TWU. The union represents aviation laborers across the country including flight attendants and other aircraft workers at MCO for airlines such as Southwest, JetBlue and American Airlines.
“We are ready to negotiate a first contract that will address significant issues with wages, benefits and working conditions for PrimeFlight Fuelers,” said union president John Samuelsen in a statement. “PrimeFlight is a company worth billions of dollars yet basic needs for workers go unmet. These workers deserve better, and today’s vote shows they want the TWU to fight for them at the bargaining table.”
PrimeFlight Aviation is a Texas-based aircraft service provider owned by private equity and investment firms the Sterling Group and Capitol Meridian Partners. The billion-dollar company has a global footprint, providing contracted services for airlines including Delta, United, Southwest and American Airlines.
According to the union, PrimeFlight employees in Orlando first reached out to the union with the aim of addressing low pay and high job turnover, as well as other issues affecting working conditions, such as a lack of nearby access to drinking water.
Records show PrimeFlight Aviation has faced numerous allegations of wage, health and safety violations over the years, paying out tens of thousands of dollars to address complaints later substantiated by federal labor agencies.
In 2016, the company was issued a $37,413 fine (later reduced) by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for exposing cabin cleaners at Newark International Airport to unsanitary working conditions without proper protective equipment.
After a “medical emergency” on a United Airlines flight, the agency found that cabin cleaners afterward were directed to clean up a potentially infectious “large pool of blood” without receiving information about infectious risks or best cleaning practices.
“It’s past time to improve the wages and working conditions for hardworking fuelers and provide greater economic security for their families,” Angelo Cucuzza, an organizer for the union, said in a statement.
PrimeFlight did not return an emailed request for comment from Orlando Weekly on the union election results or allegations from the union regarding employees’ working conditions.
Records through the National Labor Relations Board show that PrimeFlight Aviation employees in Orlando first filed a petition to unionize with the TWU in 2022. However, a union spokesperson confirmed the petition was withdrawn due to disagreement over whether workers would need to go through the NLRB for a union election — a federal body with jurisdiction over most private-sector workplaces — or the National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations in the rail and airline industries, specifically.
After the withdrawal of the 2022 petition, the union next petitioned the National Mediation Board for a union election. The board subsequently — in a confusing back-and-forth — ruled this past December that the PrimeFlight Aviation workers were not under their jurisdiction after all, and would need to instead refile a petition for an election through the NLRB.
So, they did — less than 10 days after the NMB ruling was published.
They’re not the only workers in Orlando recently to have faced a similar question of jurisdiction under federal labor law. Onboard attendants for the for-profit passenger railroad Brightline also recently voted to unionize with the Transport Workers Union, after facing a challenge from their employer over labor law jurisdiction.
Brightline enlisted legal counsel from Littler Mendelson — a notorious union avoidance law firm — to represent the company in the union election.
“Brightline ran an ugly anti-union, anti-worker campaign against their own workforce, but let’s put that behind us,” union president Samuelsen said in a statement. “We’re committed to working to ensure the railroad is successful while helping our newest members secure better wages, better working conditions, respect in the workplace and other goals that they set.”
According to a 2023 U.S. Treasury department report, the median worker represented by a union makes about 20 percent more than the median nonunion worker — a wage premium that is “particularly evident” among Black and Hispanic workers.
As of last year, only about 11 percent of U.S. workers — 16 million — had union representation, despite growing support for unions. In Florida — a state with laws that are pointedly hostile to organized labor — just over 6 percent of workers, or 569,000 working people, reported having union representation.
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This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2025.