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Tens of thousands of workers at the New York and New Jersey airports will see their minimum wage increase to $ 19 an hour after the state's port authorities voted Thursday for the new salary to be imposed on them.
It is the highest minimum wage set by a government body anywhere in the country, defenders said.
The minimum wage increase will apply to 40,000 workers at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports (baggage handlers, security guards, cabin cleaners and others), most of whom work for private contractors.
Airport workers fought to improve their low wages for years.
"A well-paid day of work for a fair day's work – this contract has been violated and anger, frustration and polarization result from the violation of this basic contract," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. meeting in Jersey City, New Jersey, before his board of directors voted.
"The men and women who work are in decline," he said. "It's not a perception, it's a reality in mathematics. They recoil, and what they say is enough. "
The salary of 19 dollars will be introduced by 2023. The first increase of installments is effective in November.
Currently, there are different minimum wages for New York and New Jersey airports: $ 13 for JFK and LaGuardia and $ 10.45 for Newark.
Donna Hampton, a security worker at JFK, says higher wages will help pay her rent, which she often can not pay in full at the beginning of the month, and she is charged late fees .
"If you do not have a roof, you're in the street," she said. "I can sleep better at night. I do not have anxiety attacks. It's more peaceful. I think I'm in a better mood when I go to work.
Hampton even noticed a difference in the way bosses treat her and other workers as salary increases progress. "Respect is back," she said. "Yes, we are someone. We have regained our dignity.
The airport supervisory authority is controlled by the governors of both states. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie had resisted further wage increases, but the new governor, Phil Murphy, had supported them.
Airport jobs once offered solid pay and benefits, but this has changed as the functions formerly performed directly by the airlines were outsourced to private contractors who reduced costs.
"It was good middle class jobs," said Hector Figueroa, president of Local 32BJ of the International Union of Service Employees, which represents airport workers.
Airport workers currently have "unacceptable high turnover," said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton, averaging 30 percent and some employers, 60 percent or more.
"These new salary levels are essential to the safe and secure operation of our airports," he said.
The airlines objected to the increase and suggested that they could sue.
In a letter to the Port Authority in July, the Airlines for America business group said that the agency "does not have the legal authority to regulate the wages of third parties."
"The Port Authority's assertion of safety and security to justify higher wages is" hidden "to disguise social goals," group vice-president Rob DeLucia wrote. "The Port offers no evidence that raising the minimum wage would improve safety or security."
Mojisola Arogundade, a housekeeper in Newark, said that with a higher salary, she was hoping to offer a bigger house for her and her four children, who are currently settling in an apartment. from a room in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
"We are going to live a better life with our family now. We just wanted a better life, "she said.
Mabel Richards, a ticket auditor at LaGuardia, said she was forced to leave her Bronx apartment and she does not know where she would go because she does not earn enough money to qualify for most apartments. She is also afraid of paying for her education for three children.
"With this increase, I can at least support them and give them meaning to life," she said.
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