Hundreds of workers at New York City airports are living in fear due to perilously unsafe working conditions, according to a startling new complaint.
On Friday, frustrated employees of Alliance Ground International gathered outside John F. Kennedy Airport to voice their concerns about the runway and tarmac service company, accusing it of neglecting employee safety.
“Every day, I come to work uncertain if I’ll return home safely at the end of my shift. Much of the equipment we use is outdated, malfunctioning, and frankly, dangerous,” said John Mosquera, a ramp agent with Frontier Airlines at LaGuardia Airport, who has been with AGI for nearly two years.
Mosquera, a resident of the Bronx, recounted an incident where he lost consciousness while working during last summer’s extreme heat wave. He was tasked with loading luggage into the stifling, unventilated cargo hold of an aircraft.
“No one should have to jeopardize their health or life for a modest paycheck. We have the right to work with dignity and to return home safely to our families. No piece of luggage, no flight, and certainly no company is worth our lives,” he emphasized.
This demonstration took place one week after SEIU Local 32BJ lodged two significant complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, representing 21 AGI employees from JFK and LaGuardia airports.
The workers, who are not part of a union, lodged a litany of allegations against AGI, including malfunctioning brakes, prevalent injuries, vehicles in disrepair, unsafe working conditions, no mirrors on vehicles, lack of training and more.
At JFK in particular, workers are routinely exposed to fall hazards as high as 30 feet without any fall protection, the complaints allege.
At LGA, the employees are allegedly forced to share protective gear and face shields that are rarely cleaned and are used for employing airplane lavatory tanks.
“AGI does not care about workers; they care about money. This winter was long and brutal. My coworkers and I spent hours outside working in freezing temperatures. It didn’t matter if we were cold, tired, sick or exhausted. We still had to show up and do the job because we have families depending on us,” said Shadequia Mercer, who worked for AGI on the ramp and in the baggage room at LaGuardia with Spirit Airlines for two years before she was laid off last week.
Mercer claimed that AGI had little compassion for its workers when Spirit shut down, saying many are still left waiting for their paychecks.
“Workers are still fighting to get the pay time off that we already earned … people with families, bills, children, health issues, and responsibilities, people who deserve to be treated like human beings,” she said.
The complaints come just weeks after the AGI was named to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) “Dirty Dozen” list of companies with significant workplace safety concerns.
AGI landed on the list because of broken machines, because of injuries, because of dirty PPI, because of workers not getting trained but also because of extreme heat hazard, according to Charlene Obernauer, the Executive Director of the New York Committee for Occupational and Safety Health.
In April 2026, AGI was named to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health “Dirty Dozen” list of companies with significant workplace safety concerns.
The company is still under a National Labor Relations Board investigation following a complaint by Garvey Barrett, a baggage handler with AGI at LGA, who said he was suspended for asking for water during one of the hottest days of 2025.
“We are today because JFK and LaGuardia workers at AGI are literally fighting for the protection of their lives,” said Manny Pastreich, the president of SEIU Local 32BJ.
“This is definitely going to be a wake-up call at AGI because workplace safety is a priority. Today is a major milestone because these bombshell allegations are going to be investigated.”
