#FIGHTFOR15

Workers At Dulles And National Airports Win $15 Minimum Wage

Ashley LisenbyWAMU | DEC 18, 2019


Nathan Walls / Flickr

Workers at Reagan National and Dulles International airports celebrated Wednesday after their union said it struck an agreement with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to boost worker pay to $15 an hour.

The agreement, announced by SEIU 32BJ, would increase worker pay from $12.75 to $15 by 2023. The union says the new policy will cover more than 8,000 workers at the two airports.

Kwaku Agyeman helps assist people who use wheelchairs at National for American Airlines. He is one of the thousands of people who work at National and Dulles International airports who have demanded higher hourly wages for years.

“This [wage increase] will help me pay some of my daughter’s college debt,” Agyeman told WAMU Wednesday after leaving the vote.

Agyeman works three jobs, and he expects a little more money over time will also help him ease the burden of his living expenses. “Now, I can at least go back to two jobs or something and then I will still be able to pay for my rent and have a little bit of time for myself to rest so I’m not killing myself at three jobs a day with very little sleep,” he said.

Airport workers have been calling for a $15 minimum wage since at least 2015, including a series of strikes, protests, and other actions. In 2017, MWAA approved a measure requiring businesses who provide commercial services to airlines or concessions at the airports to start paying workers a minimum of $11.55 an hour starting in January of 2018. That policy included steady increases to $12.75 an hour by 2020 and increases that rise along with inflation.

MWAA has not returned a request for comment.

In a news release to media outlets Wednesday, SEIU quoted a letter they said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser sent to MWAA in support of the wage increase to $15 and hour.

“It is critical that we provide at least $15 an hour wage for all of our airport workers to ensure our hardworking residents are better able to support their families and continue to strengthen our thriving local economy,” the union quotes from the letter.

D.C.’s minimum wage is currently $14 an hour, the last step in a series of rate increases before it hits $15 an hour next year. The minimum wage in Virginia, where both airports are located, is the federally mandated rate of $7.25.

This story originally appeared on WAMU.