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.

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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.”

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Report shows passenger service workers earn poverty-level wages at MSP Airport

October 29, 2013 by
State Rep. Ryan Winkler (right), co-author of a bill to raise Minnesota's minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, greets Darcy Landau before a press conference outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

State Rep. Ryan Winkler (right), co-author of a bill to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, greets Darcy Landau before a press conference outside Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

As a military veteran with a college education, Darcy Landau is overqualified for his job as a wheelchair agent at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Earning wages of $7.25 per hour, Landau struggles to make monthly car payments, pay back his student loans and meet his basic needs.

“If it weren’t for the VA,” Landau said, “I don’t know how I’d survive.”

Landau’s is hardly an isolated case. Low-wage jobs have provided the fragile foundation for the current U.S. economic recovery, accounting for more than half of the jobs created since 2010. As more and more adults turn to retail, service, hospitality and temporary jobs, public scrutiny of wages paid in those industries is increasing.

A report unveiled yesterday sheds light on the working conditions of Landau and roughly 600 other passenger-service workers at MSP, including cabin cleaners, wheelchair agents and motorized cart drivers. Its findings reveal that many earn wages at or near the legal minimum, even after many years on the job. Few can afford the health care insurance offered by their employers, and many  say they are forced to access public services like food stamps and Medicaid to meet their basic needs.

Jordan Ash, an organizer for Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, which compiled the report, said the public is essentially “subsidizing poverty wages at MSP” to the tune of $1.7 million per year.

Local 26 has been working with passenger-service workers on a union-organizing drive for the last two years. But at a press conference outside Terminal 1 yesterday, workers and community leaders pointed to the report’s findings as yet another reason to raise the state’s minimum wage.

[Click here to sign the petition in support of a $9.50 minimum wage in Minnesota.]

“We can’t afford to live with a $7.25 minimum wage, to pay our bills,” said Misrek Anbesse, who has worked as a cabin cleaner for the last four years. “We have to look for a second job.”

“I have seven kids,” said Samson Yeshitla, who earns $7.25 working for G2 Secure Staff, a Texas-based contractor that provides Delta Air Lines with wheelchair agents and electric-cart drivers. “It’s hard to survive.”

Yeshitla is one of more than 300 parents working for poverty-level wages at the airport, according to Local 26’s report. Peggy Flanaganan, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, said increasing in the minimum wage would directly improve the lives of airport workers’ children, too.

“We know if we increase minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, over 137,000 children will directly benefit,” she said, pointing to research by the Brookings Institution indicating a $1,000 increase in families’ incomes corresponds with tangibly improved educational outcomes for their children.

State Rep. Ryan Winkler, lead author of a bill to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015, also stood with airport workers. His bill, supported by the labor-backed Raise the Wage coalition, would increase wages for 360,000 Minnesotans, and boost purchasing power by $400 million throughout the state’s economy.

“It’s important to remember the economy is leaving behind a great many workers,” Winkler said. “Hard work should deliver somebody a decent quality of life. It’s about time we all start doing better.”

Local 26 already represents about 200 cleaning workers at MSP. Under the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, they earn, on average, $14 per hour with health benefits.

That’s why workers like Landau aren’t just fighting for an increase in the minimum wage; they’re also working to form a union.

“This is only the beginning,” Landau said. “We’ll continue to fight until we get justice.”

Airport workers Samson Yeshitla (left) and Misrek Anbesse join a press conference in support of raising the state's minimum wage outside Terminal 1.

Airport workers Samson Yeshitla (left) and Misrek Anbesse join a press conference in support of raising the state’s minimum wage outside Terminal 1.

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Time is now, marchers say, for House to pass immigration reform

October 5, 2013 by
Supporters of immigration reform march from the Basilica to Government Plaza downtown Minneapolis.

Supporters of immigration reform march from the Basilica to Government Plaza downtown Minneapolis.

Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform clogged the streets of downtown Minneapolis today, joining a “National Day of Action for Dignity and Respect” and amplifying the call for Congress to fix the nation’s broken immigration system.

More than 1,000 people – a crowd heavy on families and children – marched from the Basilica of St. Mary to the plaza outside the Hennepin County Government Center. They carried signs and flags, and put up calls of “Si se puede!” and the mantra of the day, “The time is now.”

Members of District Council 82 of the Painters and Allied Trades and their families march together, wearing black union T-shirts.

Members of District Council 82 of the Painters and Allied Trades and their families march together, wearing black union T-shirts.

Pockets of union members were scattered throughout the crowd, including about 100 members of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 and their families, who marched behind their union’s banner.

“We’re here to represent our union – not just members but their families,” Painters organizer Francisco Altamirano said. “It’s a family movement. It’s about human rights and keeping families together. That’s why we need to support immigration reform.”

The Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, UNITE HERE and Education Minnesota also were well represented, and the Minnesota AFL-CIO and regional labor federations from St. Paul and Minneapolis provided logistical support.

The march opened with a prayer vigil, led by diverse collection of religious leaders, on the Basilica steps. It culminated with a rally in Government Plaza. Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26, co-emceed the rally, noting wryly that it was a rare event when he shared the stage with someone from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

Immigration reform, though, has support from “a broad group of Minnesota business owners,” Chamber Vice President Bill Blazar told the crowd. The reason, he said, boils down to two words: the economy.

“Minnesota’s economy needs the contribution that immigrants make,” both as workers and as entrepreneurs, Balazar said.

“It is time for all workers to be treated equally under the law,” Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter said. Workers are entitled to a safe workplace, wage-and-hour protections and collective-bargaining rights regardless of their immigration status, Hunter added.

Reform efforts have bipartisan support in Congress, and the Senate has passed a bill to modernize the country’s immigration system. The House will do the same only if members hear from their constituents.

“We need people to move a mountain,” said UFCW Local 1161 President Mike Potter, “and we’ve got a mountain to move in Washington, D.C.”

Click here to contact your representative in Congress, and tell them to support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship!

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Union opposes U.S. Bank CEO’s campaign for Minneapolis Institute of Arts board

July 17, 2013 by

11287480Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union announced today it will protest outside the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ annual membership meeting tomorrow, urging members not to elect U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis to their Board of Trustees.

Davis is the immediate past chair of the Minnesota Orchestra’s board. The orchestra has been locking union musicians out of their jobs since Oct. 1, 2012, and the 2012-13 concert schedule was wiped out as a result.

SEIU Local 26 represents security officers who work for the MIA.

In a letter sent to MIA members today, Local 26 President Javier Morillo urged members to take a good look at Davis’ record before voting in the Board of Trustees election.

“Given Richard Davis’s track record at the Orchestra, we are very concerned about the negative influence he may exert on the MIA board,” Morillo’s letter says. “The Orchestra’s recent actions have shown a callous disregard for its employees, the community, and the quality of the institution itself.

“Richard Davis has inflicted catastrophic damage on the orchestra and left fans disheartened and demoralized. Don’t let this happen to the MIA.”

Morillo called on Davis to remove his name from consideration, as MIA members must vote for or against a slate of candidates, which includes Davis. Members cannot vote against individual nominees.

In a press release, Local 26 announced plans “to greet those attending Thursday evening’s MIA annual membership meeting,” and said their members will be joined by Minnesota Orchestra supporters.

The membership meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m. inside Pillsbury Auditorium on the MIA’s campus, 2400 Third Avenue South in Minneapolis.

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Unions lead rally for immigration reform in Minneapolis

April 10, 2013 by
Josefina Garcia hoists her daughter Citlalli on her shoulders for a better view of the immigration rally downtown Minneapolis.

Josefina Garcia hoists her daughter Citlalli on her shoulders for a better view of the immigration rally downtown Minneapolis.

The time for bipartisan action to fix the country’s broken immigration system is now, according to a diverse group of more than 100 activists who rallied downtown Minneapolis yesterday for “commonsense” immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.

The event, one of several immigration rallies held across the country yesterday, drew support from unions, business leaders and faith groups. Together, they called on federal lawmakers to send President Obama a bill that will keep families together and protect workers, regardless of their immigration status.

Mike Fernandez, a vice president at Cargill, acknowledged that it will require a level of bipartisanship rarely seen in Washington D.C. But if business and labor can unite behind an issue, he said, members of Congress ought to be able to do the same.

“Collectively, we will make some important history,” Fernandez said.

Geraldine Crece and Luis Sanchez bow their heads during a prayer that opened the rally for immigration reform.

Geraldine Crece and Luis Sanchez bow their heads during a prayer that opened the rally for immigration reform.

Senators from both parties are working together this week on a sweeping immigration bill, and Minnesota’s delegation will play a critical role in advancing the bill. Both Sen. Al Franken and Sen. Amy Klobuchar sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is likely to hear the measure before any floor vote.

Both senators dispatched representatives to the rally yesterday. Both expressed support for immigration reform.

Erick Garcia Luna said Klobuchar supports “tough, practical and fair” reform with a “reasonable pathway to citizenship” for the 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S. Franken staffer Dan Solomon said his boss “knows our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed.”

That drew cheers from a crowd that included Gloria Castillo, a leader in the faith-based, immigrant-rights group Asamblea de Derechos Civiles. She said a path to citizenship is key to improving the lives of undocumented immigrants now working in the shadows of the U.S. economy.

“We don’t want any more employers who take advantage of their employees because they know they don’t have documented status,” Castillo said.

It’s the same reason unions like the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union and others have thrown their support behind immigration reform.

“Empowering immigrant workers is a win for all working people,” Steve Hunter, secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, said. “Any time any worker anywhere is exploited, it lowers standards for working people everywhere.”

Union members, though, have not been immune to the pitfalls of the current immigration system. About 200 members of SEIU Local 26 were fired in 2010 “for the crime of working,” according to Local 26 President Javier Morillo, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents audited an area cleaning company.

Despite what appears to be broad-based support for protecting immigrant workers, Morillo warned that powerful interests remain committed to seeing immigration reform fail.

“The members of Local 26 have felt firsthand the effects of our broken immigration system, but for some people our immigration system is working just fine,” he said. “Some people are making a profit by exploiting workers who are scared, or by detaining workers in for-profit prisons. That is wrong.”

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