Yesterday, our city council voted to pass a worker retention ordinance through committee that will protect the jobs of airport workers if a change in contractors were to take place. Standing together with workers from across the airport and UNITE HERE Local 23, we’re one step closer to making sure that DEN workers have job security and the ability to plan for the future.
Wallace, an agent assisting passengers in wheelchairs at DEN and member of SEIU Local 105 told Denver City Council., “For workers with medical issues like myself, a change in contractors is like a gamble with your life. If a new contractor came in tomorrow, they could see me as a liability or an unneeded cost and get rid of me with no legal repercussions. The thought of it being a possibility puts me under incredible stress, and I’m not the only one. Even a rumor of something like this puts fear in the workplace. People start looking for other jobs because even if they kept us on, there’s no guarantee they’d keep our contract. With nothing stopping this, it’s hard for airport workers to plan for their future or feel secure. We feel like we’re just numbers on a spreadsheet. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. We’ve already made a great achievement with the minimum wage, and now, I hope we can make another one with this retention policy. Please stand with us and support it!”
This passage of this ordinance would build on the success of a $15/hr minimum wage at the airport that we won earlier this year, and if we keep standing together and fighting, we’ll make it a reality.
We would also like to extend a thank you to the members of Denver City Council who voted unanimously to pass this proposal out of committee! And a special thank you Councilwoman Robin Kniech for championing these efforts to protect the thousands of service workers who we all depend on at the airport!
To read more about this proposal and what it means for airport workers, check out the Denver Gazette coverage of its passage.
