Airport workers rally behind Delta baggage handler fired for activism

December 5, 2014 by
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison speaks in support of fired Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges (blue coat) at a rally at MSP Airport.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison speaks in support of fired Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges (blue coat) during a rally at MSP Airport.

Airport workers, union members and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison today called on Delta Air Lines to reinstate Kip Hedges, a pro-union activist fired just days ago for speaking publicly in favor of a $15 minimum wage at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

About 200 people joined the demonstration outside Termainal 1 at MSP Airport. They shut down the terminal’s Upper Level Roadway before being ordered by police to disperse.

Originally planned as part of the Black Friday Week of Action that also included Walmart and fast-food strikes, the airport protest became an outlet for activists and co-workers outraged at Hedges’ dismissal. Protesters carried signs and joined chants urging Delta to “bring Kip back.”

Hedges, a baggage handler and 26-year airline employee, told Workday Minnesota that Delta management issued the termination after citing comments he made in a video supporting of the “15 Now” campaign for a higher airport minimum wage.

In this video from today’s protest, Hedges recounts what he said about Delta, as his supporters echo his statement.

“In spite of being fired by Delta, I don’t plan to stop speaking out about low-wage workers at Delta, or the issue of unionizing,” Hedges said. “In the past two days, I’ve received massive support from my co-workers, from brother and sister flight attendants at Delta, the International Association of Machinists and the labor movement in Minnesota. This is the kind of force that it will take to win $15 at MSP, and it’s the kind of spirit that will lead to unionizing Air Serv and Delta ramp workers.”

About 200 people joined the march along outside the upper level of Terminal 1, calling for $15 wages and union rights.

About 200 people joined the march along outside the upper level of Terminal 1, calling for $15 wages and union rights.

Meanwhile, passenger-support workers at MSP, employed by contractors like AirServ, said Delta’s effort to silence Hedges would not keep them from working for a $15 minimum wage and a union.

“I do important work at the Airport for other peoples families,” said Randa Jama, a mother of two who works as a wheelchair assistant for AirServ. “I wish AirServ would support my kids the way I help Delta passengers and unaccompanied minors.”

Ellison, a DFLer from Minneapolis, called on Delta to reinstate Hedges. He also encouraged passenger-support workers’ to continue their organizing campaign.

“We can go a day, a week, a month without the CEO of Delta. We actually don’t need him,” Ellison said. “But you try to go even a short period of time without the cleaners or the drivers or the baggage handlers, and this whole place stops.

“You deserve respect, and you must be paid fairly.”

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

Workers call out Johnson for opposing minimum-wage increases

October 7, 2014 by
Darcy Landau, a wheelchair agent at MSP International Airport, questioned Jeff Johnson's opposition to minimum wage increases as Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson looked on.

Darcy Landau, a wheelchair agent at MSP International Airport, questioned Jeff Johnson’s opposition to scheduled minimum wage increases.

How do minimum-wage workers feel about Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson’s opposition to wage increases scheduled for 2015 and 2016, and cost-of-living increases scheduled to begin in 2018?

Ask Darcy Landau, one of tens of thousands of workers statewide who saw their wages climb to $8 per hour Aug. 1.

“Does Mr. Johnson realize the pain he would cause people like me and working people across the state?” Landau asked. “Does he have any clue what it’s like to live on minimum wage?”

A wheelchair agent at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Landau said his job offers no affordable health insurance or career advancement. Many of his co-workers juggle two or three minimum- or low-wage jobs just to make ends meet for themselves and their families.

The Aug. 1 wage increase was the first Landau had received in years, and it came thanks to legislation signed into law by labor-endorsed Gov. Mark Dayton. Landau said future increases included in the new law are necessary to keep up with the rising cost of food, rent and transportation.

Landau spoke at a press conference called by the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s largest federation of labor unions, representing more than 300,000 union workers.

The federation was part of a coalition of labor, faith and non-profit groups that lobbied successfully to pass the minimum wage bill last spring, and Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson warned that Johnson, if elected governor, would put the coalition’s accomplishments in jeopardy.

Knutson pointed to three examples of Johnson’s “consistent record” of opposition to increasing the minimum wage:

  • Johnson voted against a modest increase to $6.15 per hour – a measure that Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty eventually signed into law – as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2006.
  • In an interview with the Bemidji Pioneer, Johnson said he would sign legislation repealing the minimum wage increase passed earlier this year.
  • He is committed to blocking annual cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage in 2018 and beyond.

That record is unlikely to sit well with the 325,000 Minnesotans who will see their wages go up as a result of the new minimum-wage law. To appeal to those voters, Knutson said, Johnson recently attempted to flip-flop his position on minimum wage.

“In last week’s debate, Jeff Johnson tried to run away from it, but he has a clear record of opposing wage increases for the lowest-paid people in Minnesota,” Knutson said. “Whether it was his time in the Legislature or during his campaign, Jeff Johnson has shown time and again that he sides with billionaires and big corporations over working Minnesotans.”

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Airport workers confront Delta CEO during Minneapolis luncheon

September 25, 2014 by

Three workers interrupted Delta CEO Richard Anderson’s speech before a Chamber of Commerce luncheon Tuesday in Minneapolis. They questioned why Anderson’s salary increased to over $14 million last year, while workers who assist Delta passengers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport struggle to make ends meet.

“Mr. Anderson, Delta is making record profits, yet wheelchair agents who transport Delta passengers are paid minimum wage,” said Darcy Landau, a military veteran from St. Paul who works as a wheelchair agent at MSP. “We can barely survive. Will airport workers ever share in this growth?”

Video footage, taken by Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, shows Landau and other workers being escorted out of the banquet room after interrupting Anderson’s speech.

Landau and other workers have been attempting to organize with SEIU Local 26 for the last few years. They do not work directly for Delta, but for subcontractors that handle the airlines’ passenger-service responsibilities at MSP.

Delta reported profits of $2.7 billion in 2013, but those record earnings have yet to trickle down into passenger-service workers’ paychecks. Outside of the luncheon, workers and supporters held a sign reading “Record Profits for Delta, Poverty Wages for Workers.”

Abera Siyoum, an AirServ cart driver at MSP, asked Anderson about a comment made by the CEO in reference to the corporation’s record success in 2013.

“Mr. Anderson, you said in the news that ‘across the board 2013 was an outstanding year,’ yet since I must work 70 hours a week to survive I hardly get to see my children,” said Siyoum, who works two jobs to support his wife and two children. “Do you think my family is as happy about Delta’s profits as you are?”

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

Airport workers, disability-rights advocates join in push for higher wages

June 16, 2014 by
Demonstrators block traffic outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, protesting low wages and poor conditions for workers who provide services to travelers with disabilities.

Demonstrators block traffic outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, protesting low wages and poor conditions for workers who provide services to travelers with disabilities.

A demonstration in support of low-wage workers who assist Delta Air Lines’ operations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport began at today’s meeting of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) and spilled into the roadway outside Terminal 1’s ticketing area, forcing lane closures and resulting in 13 arrests.

The protest targeted low wages, under-staffing and other poor working conditions that, according to a report released last week, make travel more difficult for elderly passengers and those with disabilities.

web.MSP-arrests5“I’m embarrassed about the way we treat passengers and how long they have to wait for wheelchairs and electric carts,” Darcy Landau, who works as a wheelchair agent serving Delta passengers, told commissioners during an open forum before the MAC’s meeting. “Passengers get frustrated. It makes them feel like they’re not important. It’s discrimination, and that’s not right.”

Federal law requires airlines to provide assistance to passengers with disabilities while boarding and deplaning aircraft. Airlines are also required to train workers how to transport passengers with disabilities safely.

Airlines usually outsource passenger services to subcontractors that change as bids to service an airport are won and lost. But as their employers change, workers remain stuck in a cycle of low wages.

Abera Siyoum, a wheelchair agent employed by Delta’s latest subcontractor, Airserv, attended the MAC meeting between his morning shift at MSP and his second job. “Like many of my co-workers, my family cannot survive on what I make at this job alone,” Siyoum told commissioners.

Siyoum acknowledged that fatigue from working two jobs, coupled with the stress of rarely seeing his wife and two children, takes a toll on the service he’s able to provide for passengers who rely on wheelchair and electric-cart services.

“I don’t get enough sleep. I am stressed about being able to pay my rent,” he said. “It makes it hard sometimes to do my job.”

Airserv worker Abera Siyoum marches with his daughter Coket.

Airserv worker Abera Siyoum marches with his daughter Coket.

Siyoum, Landau and other Airserv employees at MSP are working to organize a union with Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union.

Local 26 already represents janitors at MSP, who are employed by Airserv’s parent company, ABM, and it’s not hard to see why passenger-service workers want to form a union too. While ABM pays its union employees at MSP average wages of $14 per hour with benefits, Airserv pays average wages of $8 with no benefits.

Local 26 President Javier Morillo called on the MAC to follow the lead of airports in Boston, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale by passing a “labor-peace policy,” which would make it easier for workers to form and keep a union as Delta shifts contractors at the airport.

After the open forum workers and their supporters, including several members of the disability-rights organization ADAPT, marched and wheeled themselves out of the MAC chambers, through the terminal and onto the road outside the ticketing area.

As police watched and a crowd of supporters chanted slogans, eight protesters sat down in the street, backed by three ADAPT members in wheelchairs and two more people standing behind them. All 13 were arrested for blocking traffic.

The civil disobedience follows last week’s release of a new report, “Able, But Not Willing,” that finds passengers with disabilities face continued problems at MSP – problems workers and ADAPT members pledged to work together to solve.

Police arrest Darrell Paulsen, a leader in the disability-rights organization ADAPT.

Police arrest Darrell Paulsen, a leader in the disability-rights organization ADAPT.

Earlier, airport commissioners listened as ADAPT leader Darrell Paulsen, who was among those arrested, recalled watching workers drop his then-pregnant wife, Nikki, while transferring her from a wheelchair to her seat on an outgoing plane at MSP.

Paulsen urged commissioners to consider whether their mission was to “make Delta millions of dollars in profits” or to ensure dignity for all travelers. “If you believe in dignity, it is time for you to take action,” he said.

Delta, in particular, has a track record of failing to serve its ticketed passengers with disabilities in accordance with federal law, according to the report, which found that Delta was fined twice in the last 10 years by the Department of Transportation.

The report included several recommendations to improve services, including proper training, higher staffing levels and better wages for workers who serve passengers with disabilities.

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

At MSP Airport, workers use heavy travel day to rally for better wages

November 27, 2013 by
Airport workers and their supporters march outside Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during a week of action targeting low-wage employers.

Airport workers and their supporters march outside Terminal 1 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during a week of action targeting low-wage employers.

On one of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s busiest days of the year, the low-wage workers who make holiday travel happen put the public on notice they will no longer settle for poverty-level wages.

Abenezer Madde earns $8.10 per hour after working four years as a cabin cleaner at MSP.

Abenezer Madde earns $8.10 per hour after working four years as a cabin cleaner at MSP.

Airport workers and their supporters – about 100 people total – rallied outside the arrivals area of Terminal 1, showing support for both an ongoing effort to form a union and legislative attempts to raise the state’s minimum wage. The demonstration was part of a week of action targeting low-wage employers.

[Click here to tell your state senator your support raising the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015.]

Workers who clean planes, transport seniors and assist passengers with disabilities at MSP earn, on average, $7.73 per hour with very limited benefits.

Wages have bottomed out in recent years, as airlines have outsourced passenger services to low-wage subcontractors. That “race to the bottom” may be good for profits, but it’s bad for workers and their families, according to Javier Morillo, president of Service Employees International Union Local 26, which is working to organize about 600 workers at MSP.

“The cost of flying has gone up so much. Many people would be surprised to learn that money does not end up in the pockets of workers,” Morillo said. “In fact, many of the people who work here at MSP live in poverty.”

Samson Yeshitla is among them. After working 19 months as a baggage handler, he still earns minimum wage, $7.25 per hour. Yeshitla took a second job to help support his wife and two children, but it’s taken a toll on his life at home.

“I don’t have enough time to see my children,” Yeshitla said. “When I get home at night, my children are asleep. I leave for work before they get up in the morning.”

Abenezer Madde, a cabin cleaner, began working at MSP for minimum wage four years ago. Now, he said, he’s reached the top hourly wage scale of $8.10.

“We are not here today to ask for some kind of special treatment,” Madde said. “We are here to ask for basic human rights,” including “wages that can feed a family” and benefits that include vacation and paid sick time.

Madde and other employees of non-union subcontractors at MSP need not go far to find examples of workers being paid higher wages to do similar jobs. Union janitors at the airport, members of Local 26, earn close to $14 per hour with health care benefits.

“If you clean the airport, you have health care,” Morillo said. “If you clean inside the airplane, you have nothing.”

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, who joined the rally, said that if subcontractors and airlines are going to pocket fees paid by airport travelers, lawmakers should raise the minimum wage to ensure the families of workers like Yeshitla and Madde don’t live in poverty.

Voters in Washington recently approved a $15 minimum wage for hospitality and transportation workers in and around the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, a victory that could spark momentum for workers at MSP.

“The airport doesn’t work without their hard work,” Ellison said. “These folks are hard working. They deserve better, and we’re going to make sure they get better.”

web.MSP-minwage.outside

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