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Workers at the Newark Liberty International Airport are getting a pay raise from November 1, the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners said Thursday.
Julio Cortez / AP
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Julio Cortez / AP
Workers at the Newark Liberty International Airport are getting a pay raise from November 1, the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners said Thursday.
Julio Cortez / AP
This is what is called the highest minimum wage in the country. Thousands of workers at New York and New Jersey airports – baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, concessionaires – will see their hourly wages rise to $ 19 by 2023, after the board of trustees Port Authority voted unanimously Thursday to require companies that they raise minimum wage.
"We are confident that this significantly improved minimum wage for airport workers will significantly reduce staff turnover, improve morale and develop better-trained workers, who will make a decisive contribution to airport operations and security in the world that will follow. the events of September 11, "said Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority. .
The port authority manages some of the busiest airports in the country. This decision follows nearly 800 written messages to the council by workers, businesses, academics and elected officials – and years in which airport employees marched, organized strikes "and were even arrested on Wednesday. Martin Luther King Day, "writes a large union representing the workers.
The amendments come into effect on November 1 st. Under the new rules, the hourly wage of workers at Newark Liberty International Airport, set at $ 10.45, is expected to reach $ 12.45.
Workers at JFK International and LaGuardia airports in New York, who are currently earning a minimum wage of $ 13 an hour, will see an increase of 60 cents in November before the state's minimum wage becomes $ 15 in January. The wages of workers at the three airports will continue to increase gradually over a five-year period.
"This historic victory will give thousands of airport workers a decent wage for decent work," said New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. m said. "It's the right thing to do – it's the smart thing to do."
Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy m said"With today 's vote, the agency made it clear that she had heard the voice of about 40,000 workers who would be affected by the increase in wages. on both sides of the Hudson. " He said that all workers in New Jersey should earn a living wage.
Michael Saltsman, General Manager of the Employment Policies Institute, told NPR "that it is deeply worrying" that authorities believe that a minimum wage of $ 15 in New York, coming into effect on the 1st January, "is not enough". He thinks the decisions about the increases are coming too fast, "without stopping to say," What are the consequences of $ 15? "
Saltsman says that if businesses at the airport can not offset their higher costs with higher prices for consumers, workers could see their reduced hours of work or their jobs cut off. "The trend, as costs increase, is heading toward fewer employees and more automation," he says. "They feel like amenities but they were actually part of someone's job description."
On the first day of 2018, 18 states saw their minimum wage increase from 4 cents in Alaska to 1 dollar in Maine.
Sylvia Wallingford, a business owner in Maine, told Joel Rose, of NPR: "I've hired fewer people because I can not promise everyone a certain number of hours.
An "Analysis and Justification" report from the Port Authority concluded that the increase in the minimum wage would probably not be offset by an increase in unemployment. Instead, he found evidence that companies have developed "channels of adjustment" to maintain stable employment levels.
The agency also said that the turnover of more than 30 percent of airport workers employed by the private sector was reported every year, according to the statement. The high business figure limits their ability to "play a critical security role," said the Port Authority.
An employer, United Airlines, would not comment on its intention to oppose wage increases in court, according to the WNYC.
Yasmeen Holmes, who worked at the Newark Airport for 16 years, talked to WNYC about the salary increase. "I thought it would never happen, maybe now I would not have to work so much overtime and I could stay at home with my kids."
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