MIAMI — Maria Bogarin, an immigrant from Argentina, has never been so tired in her 10 years working as a cabin cleaner at Miami International Airport — staffing shortages, delays and cancellations have sent her sprinting through MIA, cleaning 10 to 11 American Airlines and Delta planes per day, up from the seven planes per day she used to clean before the pandemic.
“We are really overwhelmed at work right now. It’s a lot of pressure. The time they give us is not enough, we can’t do our best work. I’m tired and stressed mentally and physically. My body hurts when I get home from work,” she said, citing back problems and sore feet from a decade of cleaning planes. “It’s hard for me to take care of my two kids.”
At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, workers say conditions are similar: Rashad Grant, a wheelchair attendant subcontractor for Delta and United Airlines at FLL, says staff shortages have left him pushing wheelchairs for two passengers at the same time, or having to make difficult decisions about who to attend to first.
