Some O'Hare Airport workers go on strike

More than 100 workers and supporters rallied at O'Hare International Airport Thursday morning demanding higher wages and better safety training for some of the airport's nonunion service employees.

Nearly 100 of the workers are cabin cleaners, security officers, cabin drivers, passenger assistant workers and janitors employed by outside contractors.

The strike is a rolling one-day strike, says Service Employees International Union Communications Director Izabela Miltko.

"The workers who walked out last night at 10 p.m. will return at 10 p.m., the workers who walked off the job this morning will return tomorrow morning," Miltko said in an email Thursday.

While the striking employees are nonunion members, the Service Employees International Union helped lead the strike.

Miltko says the goal is for employees to return to work Friday "without retaliation."

"This is part of a bigger fight, and eventually the city will have to step in and help lift these workers out of poverty and create a better future for them," Miltko said.

An airport spokesman had no comment on the walkout.