The union representing 1,000 workers at the state’s largest airport is pushing the Metropolitan Airports Commission to set a $20 minimum wage as the workers’ contract with four large subcontractors is about to expire.
Service Employees International Union Local 26 represents about a thousand airport passenger services workers, including cabin cleaners, wheelchair pushers and cart drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The workers want a wage increase from $15.33 to $20 per hour and a more affordable health care plan.
Dan Mendez Moore, organizing director for Local 26, said the union and the companies employing the airport workers met for two full days of bargaining in early December, with two more days of bargaining planned for mid-February.
But according to Mendez Moore, a decision on a raise could come from either the employers who contract workers or through action from the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC).
“It needs to come from somewhere, whether the MAC has to force it through policy or whether the employers sit down and bargain at the table,” Mendez Moore said.
Dispatch worker Asma Omar said workers have met with their employers before to discuss wage concerns but “nothing positive” came from the meetings.
“I was like completely shocked and at the same time was so mad,” Asma said, of the previous rounds of talks.
Service workers have seen gradual pay increases with their current contract but one said after eight years on the job he’s beginning to feel frustrated.
Osman Sheikh has worked in cabin cleaning and also pushing wheelchairs for the last eight years. He said inflation has taken a toll on his paycheck and he expects the companies he works for to eventually give workers the pay increase and affordable health care they’ve been asking for.
“Everything is changing but we still get the same paycheck,” Osman said.
According to Local 26, four companies contract workers they represent at MSP. Those include ERMC, Prospect, G2, and Global Elite.
Mendez Moore said the union has met with both MAC and the contractors to discuss better wages but so far nobody has addressed the issue of wages.
According to him, the companies were given an initial proposal by the union that was rejected. The companies then said any money talks should be discussed with MAC.
“We were hoping to get several sessions of bargaining in before the contract expires,” Mendez Moore said, “They [the companies] were not in any hurry to come back and generally lack any urgency to do right for their workers.”
As the union prepares for another round of bargaining, Mendez Moore said workers have gotten support from state lawmakers and even feedback from some MAC commissioners.
In December, the union was joined before a MAC meeting by DFL State Senator Erin Murphy.
“If this is not resolved at the bargaining table, we’re going to take it up with the Legislature,” Murphy said in December to WCCO.
In a written statement, MAC officials said they have worked in the past to make progress on wage and work conditions.
The MAC passed a minimum wage ordinance for airport workers in 2020 that set standards for wage increases each year until 2023. After that, the hourly minimum wage was to be increased based on an inflation percentage calculated by the state Department of Labor and Industry.
“The MAC has encouraged collective bargaining and believes that it is the best solution to resolve wage and other benefit issues between airport workers and the companies they work for,” read the statement.
Mendez Moore said the union has been back and forth between the MAC and the companies employing workers.
“Everybody seemingly agrees that this is a problem,” Mendez Moore said, “and they’re all pointing fingers at each other of who should actually solve it.”
