NEWARK — Thousands of
low-paid cabin cleaners, baggage handlers and other airport workers are
due for a raise today at Newark Liberty International Airport, where a
mandatory wage policy is scheduled to take effect.
A policy adopted by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in April calls for $1-per-hour
raises for airport workers earning $9 an hour or less, effective today.
On Feb. 1, a $10.10-an-hour minimum wage will take effect under the
policy, followed a year later by annual increments pegged to inflation.
The policy applies to
airline employees and to the employees of low-paying firms that airlines
contract with to provide ground services. Those firms, which often pay
minimum wage with few or no benefits, have proliferated in recent years
in the highly competitive, deregulated airline industry as a way for
airlines to cut costs.
Advocates of the wage
policy say it will apply to 3,700 contract workers for United Airlines
just at Newark Liberty. The wage policy also applies to thousands of
workers at New York's John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia
airports, and Port Authority officials say they plan to expand the
policy eventually to the agency's other facilities.
Direct employees of the
Port Authority all make more than the wages established in the new
policy, which also calls for a paid holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
Unlike some other
carriers at JFK and LaGuardia, United did not embrace the policy
voluntarily ahead of the effective date. But while United has questioned
the legality of the policy, it has not challenged it up to this point.
On Tuesday, a spokesman
for United reiterated a company statement issued earlier this month:
“United already pays wages at the airports that will meet this new rule.
United expects United suppliers to meet all applicable laws and
regulations.”
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