Council declines to place airport worker ordinance referral on a future agenda after legal concerns and divided votes

Dozens of speakers urged the City Council to consider an ordinance (commonly referenced as CASE, Charlotte Acting for Safety and Efficiency) aimed at improving wages, benefits and staffing at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The crowd included airport cabin cleaners, passenger service agents, union organizers (SEIU/Workers United) and several clergy and community leaders who called for a committee hearing to inspect city authority and options.

Speakers described low wages (cited examples ranged from roughly $12.50–$14.00 per hour for some airport roles), high turnover, reported safety and staffing gaps, and urged council to place a referral on a future agenda so council could direct a committee to study city authorities that might improve safety, recruitment and job quality for airport subcontracted workers. Union and clergy leaders asked council to introduce the CASE ordinance or to refer the measure to committee for study; city staff and the attorney’s office previously advised that some elements of CASE could be preempted by state law and that council lacked authority to directly set wages for private employers at the airport.

Council debated whether to put the referral on a future agenda so it could be referred to committee. After a request to include the item on a future agenda was objected to by a councilmember, the council conducted a vote under council rules. The motion to place the referral on a future agenda failed (council recorded the motion as not carrying after a tie and subsequent discussion). Several councilmembers urged caution, citing state law, the city’s limited authority over private contractors, and the sensitive governance context of the airport. Others said the city should nevertheless explore procurement and contract levers that could improve worker outcomes where the city contracts directly.

The net result: the council did not add a CASE referral to a future agenda at this meeting. Multiple speakers and union representatives pledged to continue organizing and to seek committee hearings in other ways; some councilmembers said they would work with staff to research procurement and contract approaches that may be within the city’s authority.