Airport Workers Are Carrying A Lot of Personal Baggage
Next time you are ordered by a disgruntled airport worker to take your shoes off at an airport check point, take a step back from your own travel inconvenience and imagine what it would be like to walk in their shoes. If they seem miserable, they probably are. They are fighting crabby travelers who grumble over every inconvenience and additional fee, yet from their minds eye, they still can afford to travel.
Being an airport employee is not the most glamourous job. More importantly, it’s one of the worse paying jobs without benefits. While every global cold or flu breezes through airport security, they remain defenseless. They are one of many of the Americans without health care.
Working Partnerships USA is pushing a plan to boost the economic standing of all airport workers, including employees of airline subcontractors. Under the plan, workers who earn as little as $8 an hour would get paid $12.83 an hour with health benefits, or $14.08 hourly if no benefits are offered.
According to one estimate, the proposal could cost the airline industry as much as $5 million to boost the salaries of its subcontractors. Officials are still debating the exact number of employees who would be affected as well as the financial impact. Airlines and the companies who subcontract with them may pay a financial toll, but they are not the only ones struggling financially.
Higher wages and benefits would result in fewer turnovers and contribute to a safer, happier, healthier and more stable and potentially friendlier workforce.
The proposal comes amid a national economic crisis in which airlines have taken a huge hit. With the soaring cost of fuel and fewer people flying, several airlines have filed for bankruptcy and some have gone out of business. If this issue isn’t dealt with soon, airlines may have yet another battle to tackle, finding people to check in their customers.
By Karen Loftus
Karen
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