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Airport workers press council for living wage and contract protections; union calls for worker-retention policy
Summary
Multiple Sky Harbor airport employees and union representatives urged the council to back a $25-an-hour minimum at the airport and adopt a worker-retention policy to protect employees when contractors change or contracts are enforced.
Several airport workers and union representatives used the citizen-comment period on Aug. 27 to urge Phoenix leaders to adopt stronger wage standards and contract protections for airport service staff.
Nicole Ray, a Sky Harbor passenger-service agent, said she and colleagues earn poverty wages and asked the council to support a $25 hourly wage floor for airport service workers. Ray described reliance on public benefits and said a $25 wage would boost the local economy and create more stable, better-trained staffing at the airport.
Separately, Maxwell Eulan, an attorney representing Unite Here Local 11 and a member of the city's contract-worker heat advisory committee, told the council that worker-retention policies adopted in other cities shield employees from layoffs when contracts are terminated for contractor noncompliance. He said such policies make it safer for workers to report safety and public-health violations without fearing immediate job loss.
Public testimony also included a SkyChef worker who described fears about possible contract changes and job loss; speakers asked the city to use its contracting leverage to protect workers and ensure enforcement of safety and public-health contract provisions without wiping out jobs.
Discussion v. decision: testimony occurred during the public-comment period (discussion only). No council action was taken during the meeting on wage floors or a worker-retention policy; council staff and union representatives indicated ongoing conversations and offered to follow up.
What’s next: council members and staff said they will follow up with airport employers, the union and procurement staff; union representatives said they will continue to press for a citywide worker-retention policy and for wage standards at the airport.
