Workers push back on retaliation, wage theft at Alliance Ground International

Corey Mahoney was in the hospital preparing for surgery on his infected kidney when he learned he’d been fired. 

By the time management at Alliance Ground International, a cargo handling and ground support operations company employing hundreds of workers at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Laguardia Airport, terminated him, Mahoney had been raising concerns for months over consistent safety issues and wage theft in his workplace.  

Workers at AGI had been forced to contend with faulty seatbelts, missing breaks, fall hazards, flooding, poor training, dangerous heat conditions and not receiving holiday pay over many months of work during Mahoney’s time there.  But concerns raised by Mahoney and his coworkers were ignored by supervisors, he testified at an open meeting of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s board on Sept. 24.  

Instead of addressing those issues or providing workers with safety logs that were demanded by Mahoney’s union, management retaliated against those who raised concerns, workers said. 

 That’s why Mahoney wasn’t surprised when he had been fired after five years on the job. 

“At one of the weakest points of my life instead of standing by me, the company chose to terminate me," Mahoney testified at the open meeting. “But I'm still here and I'm still fighting for what's right.”  

Compelled by AGI worker complaints backed by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into AGI facilities at both JFK and Laguardia earlier this year. But workers have continued rallying outside of their workplace to call out their working conditions and have sought to pressure the Port Authority, which oversees JFK and Laguardia, to hold AGI accountable.  

Company is one of the worst safety offenders

AGI employs more than 600 cargo warehouse agents, ramp agents, office agents and security officers at JFK and 60 ramp agents, ticket agents, cargo warehouse agents and cargo office agents at LGA. In total, AGI, headquartered in Miami, Florida, employs more than 12,000 people who staff over 60 airports across the country. 

A spokesperson for the Port Authority did not provide a comment in response to an inquiry from The Chief. The Authority does not provide services on behalf of AGI, but its vehicles and equipment are subject to inspections from the Port Authority.  

A representative for AGI did not respond to a request for comment. 

The company touts safety as one of its seven core principles, saying it’s “paramount” and that the company puts “the safety of our employees before all else.” But this year the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health named AGI as one of its “dirty dozen” companies that “put profit first and expose workers to harm.” 

NCOSH cited OSHA investigations from over a decade ago that found willful violations of safety practices for failing to inspect forklifts for damage and exposing workers to danger. OSHA investigations are ongoing for AGI workplaces in California, AGI workers in Maryland have also raised safety concerns and the company has been accused by 32BJ of owing workers at Newark Airport over $2 million in unpaid back wages. 

'I have continued to see persistent safety issues'

Freddy Robles, an AGI security officer at JFK, testified last week that he has not received holiday pay despite working on New Years Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and President’s Day.  

“When my paycheck comes up short, my entire life gets thrown off balance,” Robles said. "I have continued to see persistent safety issues, problems with job security lack of respect and missing holiday pay.” 

Much of the equipment during his time at AGI has been in constant disrepair or is inoperable, Robles testified, and he was once hit by a cargo pallet attached to a forklift that was being improperly operated by one of his supervisors.  

Weather conditions are often “brutal,” and management makes workers feel that they are “disposable,” he added.  He added that since Mahoney was fired, workers are even more afraid to speak up about the dangerous working conditions and wage theft.

But that didn't stop Robles from pleading with the Port Authority's board to step in.

"I thought I was building a future for myself and my family," Robles said of his time at AGI. "But that feeling didn't last long."