This week, over 3,000 workers ranging from airport and fast-food employees to homecare, higher education, and childcare workers across Los Angeles took part in the nationwide Fight for $15 day of action to demand $15 an hour and union rights. The workers waged their most disruptive protests yet to show they will not back down in the face of newly-elected politicians and newly-empowered corporate special interests who threaten an extremist agenda to move the country to the right.

In LA, McDonald’s workers walked off their jobs at 6 a.m. Their protest carried them to join their allies at LAX, where they called on the major airlines of an industry reaping $36 billion dollars in profits to treat their employees with respect.

Armando Muñoz, a customer service agent and union activist at LAX, hopes that solidarity can provide a stronger voice for workers on the job and at the bargaining table. Raised by a single mother from El Salvador, Muñoz was especially concerned by the hardships faced by single parents trying to care for their children when contracting companies make overtime mandatory, leaving his colleagues scrambling to find childcare for shifts stretching past 12 hours, often with little advanced notice.

“I enjoy the interaction with passengers and the bond with my coworkers, but the most difficult part of my job at LAX is the lack of communication between my employer and the airline,” said Muñoz. “I wish my employer would see that I’m not just an agent that checks boarding passes – I’m a valuable worker and we deserve better.”

Galvanized by an election defined by economic frustration, these workers organized the massive demonstrations to mark the fourth anniversary of the Fight for $15, a movement that has won raises for 22 million Americans since it started in 2012.