Hundreds of Port Authority airport workers marched through Newark Liberty International Airport to bring attention to the push for an increase to minimum wage.
Next year, New Jersey will have the minimum wage bumped up to $8.44 an hour. But the workers want to see the minimum wage increased to $15 an hour.
"We're not making a living. We're living at poverty level," says Newark airport worker Nancy Vazquez. "Newark Liberty International Airport workers are not second-class citizens."
The group marched from Terminal B to Terminal C, as Port Authority police blocked off traffic and even designated an area so travelers could get by.
Workers tell News 12 New Jersey that some of the employees have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet and are hoping for a better quality of life.
"It's a shame that a state as wealthy as ours and a nation as wealthy as ours that we force people to work for these slave labor wages," says Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski.
Workers in the same union in New York have already gotten better benefits, so the group is hoping to bring attention to the plight of workers in New Jersey.
"It's totally unfair," says Donna Hampton, a security officer at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "The workers in New York are getting their benefits that we fought for here and that's why we're here to fight. Make sure that New Jersey gets theirs."
Similar rallies were held across the country, from Boston to Chicago. Fast-food restaurant workers and home and child-care workers are also asking for a pay increase.
The efforts were part of the National Day of Action to Fight for $15.
While there were more than two dozen arrests at the New York City rally, the one in Newark went off without any incidents.