TSA officers’ commemoration comes with warning against privatization

September 25, 2026 by

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum joins AFGE Local 899’s commemoration of the 9/11 attack.As Transportation Security Adminis-tration agents at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport commemorated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 last month, union leaders made a point of warning against new attempts by the Trump administration to privatize U.S. airport security.

American Federation of Government Employees Local 899 held its observance on the mezzanine level of Terminal 1, perched above the ticketing counters. Two members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation, Reps. Betty McCollum and Kelly Morrison, joined the event, as did a representative of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Speakers mourned the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and they reflected on the role TSA workers have played in protecting the nation’s airways from other attacks since then.

Local 899 Secretary Emily Woods was a child when the attacks took place, but she now works as a transportation security officer at MSP, serving in the agency created by Congress after 9/11 to standardize passenger screenings in the nation’s commercial airports.

“I may have been too young to understand Sept. 11 as it happened, but I understand its significance today,” Woods said. “Every time I put on my TSA uniform, I carry forward the responsibility that came from that day.”

“Every day, transportation security officers carry out that important mission,” Local 899 President Sharif Mehanna said. “They identify prohibited items, they respond to evolving threats and they protect millions of passengers – often under difficult conditions and without receiving the recognition they deserve.”

Difficult conditions have been all too common for TSA workers during the second Trump administration. They were forced to work without pay during extended Department of Homeland Security shutdowns, and Trump’s DHS appointees have sought to strip TSA officers of their union contract – a move AFGE has challenged in federal court.

Now, the administration is acting on a secretly devised plan, TSA Gold+, to privatize passenger screening at some airports. The agency recently informed AFGE of its intention to launch the program, which puts private contractors in charge of passenger screening and the screening technology itself, at three airports next year: Tampa, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; and Des Moines, Iowa.

At MSP Airport, union leaders and federal lawmakers called the privatization scheme a dangerous departure from the system that has worked to protect travelers in the 25 years since 9/11.

Morrison said she opposes any effort to “change airport security that does not include input from the real experts, TSA employees.” McCollum agreed.

“I fly in and out of a lot of airports, and every airport is different,” McCollum said. “But the one thing I know is consistent is the professionalism and the training (of TSA officers). If this starts being privatized, it’s going to be scattered all over. You can come in with the lowest contract? That’s not who I want watching out for my constituents when they fly.”

Local 899 Treasurer Neal Gosman said privatization threatens to undermine TSA officers’ healthcare and pension benefits and their wage standards. But it would also come at a price to accountability, which officers take seriously.

“It takes years to get someone trained up fully; to replace us all with a privatized workforce would be a tremendous loss to federal security,” Gosman said. “The message that we learned after 9/11 is that we aren’t just here to do airport security, we’re here to do national security. That is the oath that we take as federal employees, and we do that work every day.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Hospitality workers at MSP make gains after holiday strike threat

December 12, 2025 by

Victor Arreole, a line cook at Bottle Rocket, speaks during a press conference at MSP Airport.

Travelers passing through Minneapolis-St. Paul International this holiday season can congratulate the airport’s food service-workers on a new union contract that delivered the strongest economic gains for their bargaining unit in recent memory.

The victory for members of UNITE HERE Local 17 came after they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike – and threatened to do it the week of Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel times of the year.

The union’s bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with HMS Host on Friday, Nov. 21, and members voted to ratify the contract, with 98% support, the following weekend.

A multinational corporation, HMS Host is one of MSP Airport’s largest food and beverage operators, employing about 250 members of Local 17 at bars, restaurants and coffee shops in both Terminal 1 and 2, from Starbucks and Auntie Anne’s to Chili’s and The Wild Sports Bar.

Local 17’s previous contract with HMS Host expired in December 2024, but union members stuck to their economic demands as bargaining dragged on for over 12 months.

Kifle Habtemarian, a cook at The Wild Sports Bar, said workers in the bargaining unit felt strongly about locking in wage and benefit increases – even if it meant going on strike.

“Life is expensive now,” he said. “In the store, before I could pay $300 for two weeks and be good. Now it’s $500.”

A no-strike clause in the previous contract expired last May, freeing workers to leverage a strike as pressure on the employer to meet their demands.

And it worked, as cooks, utility workers and engineers in the bargaining unit – some paid as little as $15.98 previously – won historic wage increases in the new contract.

Tipped workers made gains too, including benefits that address the income they forego – their gratuities – when accessing paid time off.

The contract also introduces a tip line for airport fast-food workers and baristas.

And the new contract also improves airport hospitality workers’ benefits, providing them with access to affordable health insurance coverage for their dependents.

Victor Arreole, a cook at HMS Host’s fast-casual restaurant Bottle Rocket, said the gains made in the new contract were “a long time coming” for workers who have stuck with the employer during a challenging five years for the travel industry.

“We fought for more than a year to win back what we lost during the pandemic, and we’re finally getting the wages and benefits our families deserve,” Arreole said.

“This contract is going to change lives.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

MSP Airport unions lead march on ICE terminal as labor shows solidarity with Somali community

December 3, 2025 by

Local 17 organizer Geof Paquette speaks to the crowd of activists outside Signature’s terminal at MSP.

One day after the Trump administration announced it would target the local Somali community with immigration raids, two airport unions led a march on the company that operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International’s charter terminal, where local detainees are being flown in shackles to deportation hubs.

More than 200 activists from labor, community and faith groups gathered Dec. 3 at the Terminal 2 light-rail stop and marched together to the Signature Aviation terminal. There they rallied with speeches and chants, and later tied red ribbons of remembrance to the iron fence that separates the terminal from the public road.

Speakers called on local officials, including the Metropolitan Airports Commission, to find ways to stop the deportation flights.

“These deportations create terror in our neighborhoods and are ripping families apart,” said Geof Paquette, an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 17 who works with immigrant workers at MSP’s bars and restaurants. “They do nothing but sow fear and anxiety in our community. We’ve got to demand better.”

Another union speaker, retired airport janitor and Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26 member George Mullin, offered a firsthand account of the squalid, dehumanizing conditions detainees face in the privately owned holding centers to which they are flown from Signature’s terminal.

George Mullin, a retired SEIU member, traveled to deportation hubs in Louisiana earlier this year.

Mullin joined a delegation, sponsored by SEIU, that traveled to remote detention hubs in Louisiana earlier this year. Those sprawling private prisons, like Signature Aviation and the charter airlines that use its terminals to traffic ICE detainees, are “making money off of cruelty,” Mullin said.

“I’m here today because one of the bright spots of our trip to Louisiana was seeing detained women reacting to us for showing up where no one comes,” he said. “They waved like crazy the whole time.

We got to show them that they are not alone. We see them, and we are with them. Today we’re doing the same thing. To our neighbors who are being put on these planes in chains, likely with no idea where they are going, we see you.”

Labor’s leading role in the march on Signature Aviation illustrates how unions here – and across the U.S. – are showing solidarity with immigrant communities under attack, while also working in coalition to defend people’s rights and hold the Trump administration accountable.

Demonstrators tie ribbons to the iron gate outside the Signature terminal.

Local SEIU unions were among those that reacted swiftly after President Trump began spewing hateful rhetoric at Somali immigrants. In a Cabinet meeting, Trump called them “garbage” and said they “contribute nothing” – an insult belied by work local SEIU members do as school employees, health care workers and property-service workers.

“We could not be prouder or luckier to have many Somali Minnesotans as coworkers and courageous leaders in our struggle to end poverty wages for everyone,” Minnesota’s SEIU locals said in a statement. “As usual, Trump is saying things that aren’t true and claiming powers he doesn’t have. We will make sure all our members have the tools they need to protect their rights.”

To that end, the state’s labor movement has been helping stage training sessions in nonviolent, direct action, supporting immigrant-rights and progressive groups as they brace for an increased federal presence in the Twin Cities. The first session in November drew an overflow crowd, prompting the groups to schedule another for Dec. 7.

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham said that solidarity demands labor mobilize to meet the moment.

“Union members refuse to let anyone, even the President of the United States, divide us based on what we look like, where we were born, or how we pray,” she said. “President Trump and his cronies are hoping that working people will forget that immigrants aren’t standing between us and a better life – billionaires are. We refuse to let them break our solidarity.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Community, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Unions call out Delta for ‘unethical and illegal anti-union activities’

June 12, 2024 by

Union supporters rallied near Delta’s employee parking lot, near Terminal 2 at MSP International Airport. The Machinists union, which is supporting the union effort among ramp workers at the airline, organized the event.

BLOOMINGTON – Delta Air Lines is the only major U.S. carrier with a mostly non-union workforce, but baggage handlers, flight attendants and mechanics at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are looking to change that.

Delta employees based at MSP are leading a nationwide campaign to bring together over 50,000 frontline workers into three unions: the Machinists (IAM), the Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) and the Teamsters.

MSP is among Delta’s operational hubs, and it has been a hotbed of union support since the “Organize and Fly Together” campaign began in November 2022.

During a rally with the Machinists union near Terminal 2 last month, MSP-based baggage workers projected that 80% of eligible employees at their job site would sign union cards before year’s end.

Some local union activists, like cargo lead Miles Dousette, are even traveling on their own time to other airports, where they join organizing rallies and go door to door to ask fellow Delta workers to sign union cards.

“It’s a cause we all believe in, we all want to be a part of,” Dousette said. “And we know we can win.”

Management, Delta workers say, has responded to the organizing drive with a relentless union-busting campaign, cracking down on pro-union speech and flooding the workplace with disinformation. Nabil Kablaoui, a Delta ramp agent, said he feels like supervisors are trying to intimidate workers at MSP.

“They’ve stood behind workers who are talking about a union,” Kablaoui said. “I’ve seen a manager take pro-union fliers out of people’s hands or out of their bags on tables in our break room, where we should have free movement.

“They might not seem large, but especially to new workers, who are maybe a little nervous about these things, that’s going to scare them off from their legal right to a union.”

Leaders of the three international unions behind the organizing drive accuse Delta of crossing the line – both legally and ethically – in trying to remain mostly union free. “Delta has consistently and unabashedly violated our federally protected right to organize,” read a flier handed out during the rally May 29.

The allegations have drawn attention from several members of Congress, including Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

In a March 2024 letter, Craig urged Delta CEO Ed Bastian to enter into a neutrality agreement with unions that would prohibit managers from engaging in “pre-election activities that influence workers’ freedom to form a union” – activities that could run afoul of federal labor laws.

“Unfortunately, I have heard from my constituents regarding Delta’s history of deploying union-busting tactics, including distributing anti-union literature … and hosting an anti-union website citing ‘unions’ empty promises,’” Craig wrote. “These actions are hostile to workers’ rights, and I urge you to commit to implementing a neutrality agreement with regard to these union organizing efforts.”

Although workers at the Machinists rally were skeptical that Delta would commit to remaining neutral, the facts, they said, are on their side.

Delta is the most profitable airline in the U.S., but many working groups lag their peers at other domestic carriers in pay and benefits. The one group that doesn’t? Members of the Air Line Pilots Association International union.

“Delta makes 40% of the industry’s profits, but we are not the highest paid, we do not have the most vacation time and our health care plan has changed three times in three years,” baggage handler Pat Gores said. “That is unacceptable for industry leaders. Our pilots are the best paid in the industry, and do you know why? Because they have a union contract.”

“We’re not out here asking for the whole pie, just a whole piece,” Dousette added. “We’re tired of fighting for the crust. We just want our fair share.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

MSP flight attendants from multiple carriers rally together on worldwide day of action

February 14, 2024 by

Flight attendants marched Feb. 13 during a solidarity action at MSP’s Terminal 1.

An estimated 100,000 U.S.-based flight attendants are working under expired union contracts, and their collective frustration boiled over yesterday at Minneapolis-St. Paul and dozens of other airports worldwide.

American Airlines, Southwest, United and Sun Country flight attendants – all working under expired contracts – marched outside Terminal 1 during the Flight Attendant Day of Action rally at MSP Airport. Employees of Delta Air Lines and its regional carrier Endeavor Air joined the rally too.

“The industry is hurting right now as far as flight attendants go and their wages,” American Airlines flight attendant Todd Smiertelmy said. “We’re all looking for our money. Give it to us.”

U.S. carriers have largely returned to profitability since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the airline industry anticipates serving a record number of travelers in 2024.

Flight attendants have seen the increased interest in travel firsthand, United flight attendant Brittany Kaiser said, but they also have seen “more issues that are arising constantly in flight or, mostly, during boarding, which is the time when we’re not getting paid.”

United expects its flight attendants at the gate well before a scheduled departure to prepare the cabin for flight. But like most other airlines, the carrier does not consider flight attendants to be on the clock until the cabin door closes.

“We’re helping get people to their seats, get the bags up and make sure the bags are correct; we’re prepping for the flight, counting meals, double checking to make sure we have all our supplies, setting up for the flight,” Kaiser said. “We’re not paid for any of it, but we’re required to do it.”

Getting paid for boarding the airplane is among the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA’s top priorities in bargaining a new contract covering 25,000 United flight attendants like Kaiser, who is based in Houston, but the process has been slow moving. Their last contract expired in 2021.

It’s been five years without a contract – or wage scale increase – for Smiertelmy and other members of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union at American Airlines. And flight attendants at MSP-based Sun Country, members of Teamsters Local 120, saw their last union contract expire in 2014.

“It really hurts morale, I can tell you that,” Smiertelmy said, adding that talks with American have long since reached a “stalemate.”

The two sides are in federal mediation, but the union has a pending request before the National Mediation Board – its second in the last two years – to be released into a 30-day “cooling off period,” after which they could legally go on strike under the Railway Labor Act. Smiertelmy, who lives in Minneapolis but is based out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, was among several flight attendants carrying “Ready to Strike” signs at the MSP rally.

“We don’t want to strike,” Smiertelmy said. “We want the company to sit down and have serious talks with us and just share a piece of the pie.”

Local 120 and Sun Country entered mediation in December and have a second session scheduled next week. In bargaining last year, the airline’s “final offer” was rejected by 96% of union members who participated in the vote.

Even flight attendants with a current union contract said their airlines aren’t doing enough to make the job sustainable, particularly for new hires. Endeavor’s Trina Johnson, a local executive council president of AFA-CWA, said her union is trying to bargain a letter of agreement with the Delta subsidiary that would improve working conditions for its 1,400 flight attendants.

“Regional flight attendants live at poverty level,” Johnson said. “Most of them have a very difficult time in the first five years that they fly trying to pay rent and buy food and even commute to their bases.”

Their unions may bring different issues and priorities to the bargaining table, Sun Country’s Tanya Devito said, but flight attendants share a common demand for more respect for the work that they do.

“It is invigorating to have all of these flight attendants coming together, but it’s also very sad because it says that (airlines) are not taking us seriously, that everybody is waiting for a contract,” she said. “It says they don’t value us.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

St. Paul lawmaker vows to act on health care for MSP workers if MAC won’t

January 29, 2024 by

State Sen. Erin Murphy spoke during a press conference held by unions at MSP Airport in December.

Airport workers are dialing up the pressure on employers at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport and the airport’s governing body to do something to make their health insurance more affordable.

Health benefits have been a sticking point in separate negotiations covering two groups of workers at MSP Airport, about 450 airline catering workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 17 and over 1,000 wheelchair agents, cabin cleaners, cart drivers and others represented by Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26.

Membership surveys have shown the overwhelming majority of low-wage airport workers do not access their employer-sponsored health insurance, instead relying on government programs for coverage.

Their unions have been fiercely lobbying the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in recent years to pass a minimum standard for affordable health insurance that all MSP-based employers would be required to offer.

In a press conference the week before Christmas, union members announced they had gained a powerful ally in the campaign, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (D-St. Paul). If airport leaders and employers fail to act, Murphy said, she will introduce a bill mandating that MSP employers offer affordable health coverage.

“We don’t have the benefit of travel without the people who staff our airports,” Murphy said. “These are physical jobs, where they can be injured in the workplace. They are working in close proximity to other people where they could easily catch something. They need meaningful health care coverage to protect themselves and to protect their families.”

Determining health benefits “is rightfully done at the bargaining table,” Murphy added. But if she and other lawmakers don’t see workers and management reach a negotiated solution, they will look for a legislative fix.

Sheigh Freeberg, secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 17, said most of the union’s members who work in airline catering cannot afford to access employer-provided health insurance.

Sheigh Freeberg, secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 17, welcomed Murphy’s support.

“We’ve pushed employers for affordable health care, and they’ve said no,” Freeberg said. “We’ve pushed the airport council … for affordable health care, and they’ve said no. We are continuing those fights, but we are excited to have state Sen. Erin Murphy … to fix this problem at the state level if those who have the direct power will not.”

MSP Airport workers have succeeded in lobbying the MAC for higher standards in recent years, including a minimum wage above $15 per hour and a mandate requiring employers to offer paid sick days. But union leaders say workers’ lack of access to health coverage remains a stain on MSP Airport’s reputation.

In a recent survey of nearly 300 airport workers from 17 different employers, just 15.2% of workers who reported having health insurance said they access the benefit from their employer.

“The workers who make this an award-winning airport continue to show up day after day, and they will step up and make sure that the (passenger) experience is great, that the spaces are clean and that the food is delivered on time,” Freeberg said. “It is time for those in power to do the same and step up to make sure that these workers have affordable health care. We are not going to stop fighting until they do.”

SEIU Local 26, whose members are employed by MSP subcontractors, remain in contract negotiations. Their contracts were scheduled to expire Jan. 31.

About 450 catering workers based at MSP Airport are covered by nationwide talks between UNITE HERE and SkyChefs that have dragged on for over two years. The talks fall under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act, which severely limits union members’ ability to exert pressure on their employers through a strike.

“Federal law has failed these workers,” Freeberg said. “We’re looking for the MAC to step up and set a minimum standard of health care that is affordable.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Organizing, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

MSP workers unite to support health care campaign, Delta union drive

December 8, 2022 by

Brahim Kone of SEIU Local 26 leads a rally outside MSP Terminal 2.

Airport workers marched and rallied for health care and union rights outside Terminal 2 in Bloomington today. The action was among dozens staged by airport workers and their unions fighting for safe and stable jobs across the country.

In Minnesota, workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport used the day of action to advance their campaign for affordable health care.

Dawit Meles, who works for airline caterer LSG Sky Chefs, said he picks up overtime shifts to cover the cost of his individual insurance plan. A more affordable option, he said, would give him more time to spend with his family.

“For my single insurance I pay over $300 a month,” he said. “My wife and kids get their insurance through the state because I can’t afford the (family) insurance LSG Sky Chefs offers.”

Meles’ union, UNITE HERE Local 17, and other unions representing airport workers are pushing the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to amend the ordinance it passed three years ago increasing MSP’s minimum wage, adding an “hourly health and wellness benefit” to the minimum compensation airport contractors must offer their employees.

State Rep. Kaela Berg, a member of the Flight Attendants union, offers solidarity to workers at the rally.

Earlier this year, unions surveyed nearly 300 MSP service workers from 17 different employers and found that, among workers who had health insurance, just 15.2% reported getting coverage through their employers.

“We know that essential airport workers – often Black, Brown and immigrant workers – make this airport the award-winning airport that it is,” SEIU Local 26 Secretary-Treasurer Brahim Kone said. “But too often to make ends meet they have to struggle, and that’s not right. It’s time for those in power to stand up and do what is right for these workers.”

A MAC commissioner who attended the rally sounded receptive to the idea.

“We will look to this coalition for guidance and support as we move forward to try to solve health care and other issues that are important,” Commissioner Rich Ginsberg said, “because it’s the workers that make the airport work.”

The coalition of airport unions behind the rally also included the Teamsters, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, and the Machinists – three unions that recently announced a coordinated campaign to support workers attempting to unionize Delta Air Lines.

Delta is turning massive profits, and executives like CEO Ed Bastian, whose pay was 26% higher last year than his peers’, are reaping the benefits. But rank-and-file workers like Miles Dousette, who works for Delta Cargo at MSP Airport, are working two jobs to make ends meet.

“We need a union now,” Delta Cargo worker Miles Dousette tells airport workers at the rally.

“There’s no work-life balance,” said Dousette, in his third year with the company. “They say we’re a family. They say they want this to be a career. Then why don’t we get career wages?”

Dousette said workers in his department earn $18 per hour for their first three years, followed by modest annual increases that top out after the 10th year.

“Delta likes to brag about profit sharing, but I worked six days a week for 10 months straight, and I got the same check as everyone else,” Dousette said.

He told workers at the rally that the company is plagued by understaffing, outdated warehouse equipment and executives who turn a deaf ear to workers’ concerns.

“The scheduling is atrocious, and when we ask management to do something about it, we always hear, ‘we can’t’ or ‘we’re working on it,’” he said. “We need a union now.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , ,

MSP workers unite to push for affordable health benefits

September 12, 2022 by

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar joins union members as they release a report highlighting the need for affordable health insurance at MSP Airport.

Workers who led the successful push for a $15 minimum wage at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport have launched a new campaign for affordable health insurance benefits.

At a press conference inside Terminal 1 today, janitors, gate agents, catering workers and others at the airport explained that, as their hourly wages increase beyond $15 per hour, many in their ranks fear losing eligibility for the government insurance programs on which they rely.

Insurance benefits currently offered by their employers, airport workers said, are unaffordable for most, with high premiums and deductibles.

“It would be too hard because $15 is not enough for me to afford to pay for the insurance,” MSP worker Khadiga Zail said. Managing her diabetes and high blood pressure without coverage, she added, would be impossible. “If I don’t have health insurance, it’s not going to be good for me. I could lose everything.”

Workers want the Metropolitan Airports Commission to amend the ordinance it passed increasing MSP’s minimum wage, adding an “hourly health and wellness benefit” to the minimum compensation airport contractors must offer their employees.

At least one person on the 15-member MAC already supports the idea. Leili Fatehi, who represents Minneapolis residents on the commission, stood alongside airport workers at the press conference.

“Fifteen is not enough for me to afford to pay for the insurance,” MSP worker Khadiga Zail said.

“We here at the MAC can and will do everything that is within our power to address the gaps and disparities that exist in the wages and benefits of our workforce, the majority of whom are people of color or immigrants” Fatehi said. “That is why I am committed to continuing to work with the groups that are here today to find solutions meeting the needs of our workforce, including affordable health care.”

Governing bodies at other U.S. airports have adopted similar requirements, with hourly benefit contributions ranging from $2.39 in Oakland to $9.50 in San Francisco.

Three unions that represent workers at MSP Airport – Teamsters Local 120, Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26 and UNITE HERE Local 17 – released a report today recommending MSP employers “eventually” be required to provide hourly fringe benefits at the same level as federal contractors under the Service Contract Act. The local rate is $4.80 per hour now, and it increases annually with inflation.

The report includes results of a survey of 290 MSP service workers from 17 different employers. Among workers who had coverage at the time of the survey, just 15.2% said they receive benefits from their employer, and 83.3% reported accessing insurance through government programs.

“There should be no reason, when there are record profits for the airlines, that our workers are worried about how they are going to pay for their doctors, or having to come into work sick because they can’t afford to go to the doctor,” said Local 17 President Christa Sarrack said, whose union represents about 1,500 food-service workers at MSP.

The report also highlights the positive impact an affordable-insurance requirement at MSP could have on the Twin Cities’ racial disparities, among the worst of any metro area in the U.S. MSP workers are disproportionately black and foreign-born, with a large population of East African immigrants.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, meanwhile, said the report reinforces her push in Congress to pass the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, which would require hub airports to ensure workers at their facilities are covered by prevailing wage and provided fringe benefits. The bill has 49 co-sponsors in the House and 12 in the Senate.

“For the last two years we’ve been saying essential workers should be celebrated as heroes,” Omar said. “They have kept our economy going, they’ve kept businesses going and they’ve kept this airport going. It’s imperative that we don’t just say thank you, but we thank them with benefits, with wages and with labor standards.”

Minimum wage at the airport will increase from $15 to $15.19 per hour Jan. 1, 2023.

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Victory at MSP, as workers win $15 after long campaign

October 19, 2020 by

MSP Airport workers march outside Terminal 1 during a 2018 demonstration in support of a $15 airport-wide minimum wage.

The working people who keep Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport running, who keep it clean and who have made it safe for travelers during the COVID-19 crisis are about to get a well-deserved raise.

Members of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) voted unanimously today to put the airport on track to a $15 minimum wage. The wage increase will start on Jan. 1, 2021, and be phased in over the next two years.

Airport workers, including members of UNITE HERE Local 17, Teamsters Local 120 and SEIU Local 26, have been pushing for a wage increase for years. Many currently make just $11 per hour, the current airport minimum wage.

The wage hike will put the workforce, predominantly immigrants and people of color, on equal footing with workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, where $15 minimum wage ordinances are on the books.

In a virtual press conference earlier this month, after commissioners signaled support for the measure, Local 120 member Michael Bardenpratt, who has worked at Swissport Fueling for 22 years, gave credit to workers who had the courage to tell their stories at MAC meetings and public demonstrations, putting a public face on poverty wages at the airport.

“Anybody that works 40 hours a week should not have to live in poverty,” Bardenpratt said. “This increase could help working people get off of government assistance, lower their dependence on food shelves, reduce the stress of wondering whether or not they’re going to have enough money for rent, food, a vehicle. It’s going to give families better lives.”

Other workers, while relieved to see $15 move forward, pledged to continue fighting for more.

Glen Brown, a wheelchair attendant at MSP for the last five years and member of Local 26, said he found it hard to celebrate the wage increase in light of the risks he and other airport workers continue to face during the pandemic.

“I’m glad this is finally happening; I’m proud of everyone who’s been fighting for this change for so long,” Brown said.

“But when this ordinance passes and we get a higher wage, it still doesn’t match the risk. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic. To overlook that, it just isn’t fair.”

Filed Under: Community, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

Union solidarity drives fight for $15 at MSP Airport

January 22, 2020 by

Ahmed Abdul Aziz, a member of Teamsters Local 120 who works for a rental-car agency, speaks before the Metropolitan Airports Commission in favor of a $15 minimum wage.

They may work different jobs or carry different union cards, but workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are fighting together to raise MSP’s minimum wage to $15.

And their solidarity is paying off.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission, which oversees operations at MSP Airport, is advancing an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage in three increments, reaching $15 per hour by July 1, 2022. That’s the same date ordinances in St. Paul and Minneapolis tick up to $15 for large employers.

At a final public hearing on the draft ordinance yesterday, commissioners listened to testimony from airport workers who stand to benefit, including members of the Service Employees International Union, Teamsters Local 120 and UNITE HERE Local 17.

Obang Okelo, a Local 17 member who works for airline caterer LSG Sky Chefs, told commissioners the raise would help him finally afford health insurance. For Michael Schofield, who works in an airport bookstore, the raise would mean more time to spend with his family.

“I work full time for Delaware North, but I have to have a second job because, like many, I have a family to support,” Schofield said, adding that he sees his co-workers at the bookstore clock out after an eight-hour shift, only to clock back in for work at another airport job. “They’re essentially working 16-hour days,” he said.

Obang Okelo tells commissioners raising the minimum wage would help him afford health insurance.

SEIU Local 26 member Glen Brown, a wheelchair attendant at MSP, said it’s not right that airport workers get poverty wages while corporations making money off the airport earn record profits. For most of the five years he’s worked at MSP, Brown told commissioners, his hourly pay has been under $11.

“I make this amount despite seeing the news stories about airlines making billions in profits,” Brown said. “I make this much despite seeing news stories about MSP Airport being one of the best in the country since 2016. I make this despite seeing airline CEO’s like Ed Bastian at Delta making $6,300 an hour.

“That just doesn’t sound fair to me.”

Several community supporters at the hearing agreed.

“It’s not right that we have a world-class airport … and depend on poverty wages in order to provide that service,” House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, a DFLer from Golden Valley, said.

Mary Sansom, a retired member of Machinists Local Lodge 1833, urged commissioners to put themselves in airport workers’ shoes.

“These are not easy jobs, and minimum wage is not sufficient,” said Sansom, who worked at MSP for 47 years. “And if anyone in this room believes that surviving on minimum wage is OK, then I challenge you to do it.”

Fortunately, the MAC appears to be taking workers’ concerns seriously.

Last August, the MAC unveiled an initial draft of the wage ordinance. It included language workers oppose, including a lower wage floor for tipped workers, known as the “tip penalty,” and exemptions for employers with collective bargaining agreements.

Misrak Anbese (R), an SEIU Local 26 member and longtime airport employee, appears before the MAC with Local 26 Presdident Iris Altamirano.

A month later, airport unions turned out hundreds of members and supporters to a public hearing on the proposal. Over 50 testified, and all spoke in support of a $15 minimum wage for all MSP workers, with no carve-outs or exemptions.

That’s exactly what they got just two weeks later, when the MAC revised its draft ordinance. Now, union organizers anticipate a vote in February or March.

Airport workers got more good news earlier this month, when the MAC released results from a survey of airport employers. Over 80% of those who responded anticipated the wage hike would not affect their ability to do business at MSP, and nearly 90% said the change would not impact the number of workers or total hours on their payrolls.

At the public hearing Tuesday, a handful of airport concessionaires disputed the survey results. They echoed now-familiar warnings about job cuts and business closings heard during debates over the minimum wage in Minneapolis and St. Paul in recent years.

But Wade Luneberg, Local 17’s recording secretary, said airport employers will lose experienced workers to neighboring cities if their wages fail to keep pace. And the airport, which has been showered with awards for its efficiency and service in recent years, has an interest making sure that doesn’t happen.

“These workers are the first and last impression for the flying public, and literally care for the public,” Luneberg told commissioners. “They work in a secure environment that isn’t easy to get to – or into. They keep challenging schedules, balancing multiple jobs and family commitments. They’ve made a commitment to this facility, and they’ve made a life here at MSP.

“Airport workers deserve $15.”

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