It was a sweltering 95 degrees at the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport on July 8, 2024, but for Garvey Barrett, a 68-year-old Jamaican baggage handler for Alliance Ground International, it felt more like the top of a griddle.
A tarmac’s dark pavement absorbs and radiates heat, which means surface temperatures can rise to 20 degrees hotter than the air temperature. “It was one of the hottest days of the year,” Barrett recalled. “We are outside a lot, working hard.”
That day, Barrett demanded that his manager at Alliance Ground International (AGI) provide him and his coworkers with water. Instead, Barrett claims that an AGI manager gave him a two-day suspension instead.
“My coworkers had been asking for water for weeks,” said Barrett. “A few of us went into the manager’s office to ask for water, and he said he was upset. He said this was the second time that day I had confronted him, and he suspended me for two days.”
Now, the union fighting to unionize workers like Barrett is also pushing legislation to protect workers like him from extreme heat.
On Nov. 20, 2024, Barrett, with the assistance of the union 32BJ SEIU, filed an unfair labor practice charge against AGI with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for allegedly suspending him when he asked his manager to be provided water during his shift. Barrett claims that water was not regularly available during shifts.
Working for LaGuardia means there’s little time to rest, Barrett says, as it’s one of the busiest airports in the nation, with over 30 million passengers per year and over 400 flights passing through daily. However, he says that the sparse shade on the wide-open tarmac and the lack of water make the job particularly insufferable.
Barrett’s case is just one example of why 32BJ has launched a campaign to organize AGI workers at airports across the country.
“Our members are on the frontlines, performing essential work and showing leadership during extreme weather events,” said Rob Hill, 32BJ SEIU executive vice president and head of the airports division, in a statement. “Access to relief from the heat is critical. Without it, workers can get sick or even die. Nobody should face retaliation for speaking up about needing water.”
With AGI’s series of OSHA violations, 32BJ said they are not waiting for the company to change when it comes to providing workers with protections from the heat. In New York, the union is pushing for the passage of the TEMP Act, a bill that would create temperature protections for worksites across the state. If passed, the bill will mandate employers to provide workers basic heat protections like water, shade, and air conditioning.
As global temperatures rise, the danger that extreme heat poses for workers also increases. Between 2011 and 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that over 400 workers died because of heat-related illness. In 2023 alone, 55 workplace deaths occurred due to heat-related causes. Immigrant workers are especially vulnerable to heat-related injuries and death, with one report finding that Latinos comprised one-third of all worker deaths.
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Federally, OSHA was planning on rolling out its own rule that would require all employers under OSHA jurisdiction to adopt a plan that would protect workers from heat-related injuries. The Trump Administration has since put a pause on its implementation.
Seeing little hope from federal regulators, 32BJ believes that the state should step up to protect workers.
“Access to relief from the heat is critical,” said Hill, of 32BJ, in a statement. “Without it, workers can get sick or even die. Nobody should face retaliation for speaking up about needing water. That’s why the TEMP Act is so pressing. By requiring employers to provide water, breaks, and other protections, New York can take a critical step towards keeping essential workers safe and healthy.”
Barrett, who is currently still working for AGI at LaGuardia, couldn’t agree more.
“The TEMP Act will keep this from happening again,” he said. “It’ll keep workers like me safe.”
AGI refutes accusations
Sarah Andrews, vice president of marketing, communications, & government relations for AGI, denied Barrett’s and the unions’ claims when Documented asked for their response to the accusations.
“Due to lack of evidence to support 32BJ’s claim, there was no action from the NLRB,” she said in a statement. “This did not happen, and we vehemently refute any accusation to the contrary.”
Andrews also stated that their employees are provided with water during their shifts.
“AGI provides our team members water at each of our operations in LGA,” she said.
The NLRB has not closed the case, with Barrett’s charges still listed as open by the agency as of this writing.
AGI is a U.S.-owned company providing airports with ground, cargo, mail handling, and security services. The Miami-based company employs over 12,000 employees across 62 airports in the United States and Canada. Owned by investment firms Audax Private Equity and Greenbriar Equity Group, AGI touts itself as one of the fastest-growing ground handling companies in North America.
However, OSHA has cited AGI on numerous incidents that the agency believed threatened worker safety. From 2016 to 2024, OSHA cited AGI with 18 workplace safety citations across multiple states, totaling $338,881 in penalties. The penalties were later reduced to $169,440.
Under the establishment name “AGI Cargo,” OSHA issued the company an additional $1,210 penalty in 2024 for potentially exposing workers at a Miami warehouse to “infectious diseases” while they used unclean bathrooms.
One of the violations, a case in Chicago in 2016, was for repeat offenses where OSHA found that workers were exposed to forklifts that were “found to be in need of repair, defective, or in any way unsafe, had not been taken out of service.” The agency initially issued AGI a $78,386 penalty, but the penalty was reduced to $39,193, and the citation was listed as “repeat.”
In a similar incident, AGI was found to expose workers to the possibility of being struck by a forklift at JFK Airport in 2023. An employee, who was operating a forklift in reverse, failed to look in the direction they were traveling. Although no one was hurt, OSHA found that the incident put workers at potential risk of injury and issued an initial penalty of $8,929, but it was later reduced to $8,000. OSHA also downgraded the citation from “serious” to “other.”
AGI is currently contesting a “serious” citation issued by OSHA at Los Angeles Airport in 2024, amounting to a $22,500 penalty. The case is still pending.
So far this year, OSHA has opened up two additional investigations, one at Los Angeles International Airport under the establishment name “Agi Cargo” and another at Boston Logan Airport under the establishment name “Agi Post, Inc.” The Boston case is currently listed as closed, while the Los Angeles incident is still listed as open.
Sarah Andrews stated that the 2025 L.A. incident did not involve AGI but involved an altercation between another ground handler injuring an AGI employee. Andrews stated that the company has provided all requested information to CalOSHA, and the investigation now resides with the ground handler at fault and CalOSHA.
Regarding the Boston incident, Andrews stated that the investigation was closed by the OSHA Area Director on May 1, following an informal conference with no serious, willful, or repeat violations. OSHA did not issue the company any citations or penalties.
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“Since 2019, AGI has had an executive safety leader in place to reaffirm AGI’s commitment to employee health and safety,” said Andrews in a statement. “We have a thriving safety culture and a productive relationship with OSHA. At AGI, safety is a core value. The company has developed a safety management system, which is registered with IATA’s ISAGO (IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations ) Program and invested millions of dollars in AI-driven safety solutions and training programs to ensure that our operations are a benchmark for health and safety.”
Beyond workplace safety issues, AGI’s workplace practices at LaGuardia have come under scrutiny from city and state labor agencies
In 2018, AGI was ordered to pay 10 workers $22,792 in back wages by the New York State Department of Labor.
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protections (DCWP) ordered AGI to pay a combined $16,855 in restitution and penalties in December 2020 for violating the city’s Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law.
When asked about past allegations of labor law violations, Andrews declined to speak about past claims, only stating that the company does not have any current allegations made against AGI.
“There are no allegations of wage theft,” she said. “There are no current nor outstanding claims from the DCWP or New York State Department of Labor.”
