Airport workers push for new minimum wage
Posted June 17, 2017 10:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
RICHMOND (NEWS 1130) – A push is underway at YVR for the Vancouver Airport Authority to voluntarily institute a new minimum wage for contracted workers.
Union organizer Fipe Wong says many are working long hours and two jobs just to put food on the table.
“A lot of my co-workers have had to move out of Richmond and live in Surrey and travel two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening to get to and from work. It’s tough, people are almost living in poverty the way things are right now.”
Wong, with Unite Here Local 40, says they’re going into bargaining in August and calling for a starting wage of $15 an hour.
“It’s always about image, you know everything has to look nice in the airport. But the people who work behind the scenes are totally forgotten. If they turned that around and said OK, let’s do something for the people who work here, it would be great if they could do that instead of buying art and putting it all over the place.”
Sea Tac, LAX and San Francisco airports all have their own minimum wages.
The Vancouver Airport Authority tells the Richmond News it is not currently considering a mandatory wage level for service contractors.
