In a 5-4 decision, the WA State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the voters' decision to require employers at the airport to pay fair wages and provide sick leave.
Read MoreSea-Tac Ranks Lowest of 5 Major West Coast Airports
(Originally posted on itsOURairport.org)
New report shows how other airports have raised working standards, lifted up communities
“Below the Radar,” a just-released report from regional think tank Puget Sound Sage, shows that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport arrives last among five major West Coast airports in standards for wages and working conditions.
Thousands of Sea-Tac workers are paid at or near the state minimum wage of $9.19/hour, lagging far behind the airport living wage standards established by other major airports.
- San Francisco: $12.43 – $14.18 minimum
- LAX: $15.37 minimum
- San Jose: $14.71 minimum
- Oakland: $13.45 minimum
“When I load baggage onto an Alaska Airlines flight headed for LAX, I get paid $9.19/hr. The guy who unloads the plane gets paid at least $15.37. It’s the same airline, the same contractor, the same work, the same flight, and even the same bag — but I get paid $5 less. That’s got to change.” — Yoseph Diallo, Menzies Ramp Worker
The report also shows that Sea-Tac ranks below the other 4 airports in paid sick days, safety training, and job security.
The report shows that Alaska Airlines and the other carriers doing business at our airport already operate profitably at these high-standard West Coast airports. “Below the Radar” notes that Southwest Airlines has actively supported high workplace standards at San Jose airport where it dominates the market, while Alaska Airlines has remained silent about poverty-wage conditions at Sea-Tac. The report concludes that Alaska Airlines can and should ensure that Sea-Tac contractors meet those same high standards.
“Why can Alaska Airlines meet the West Coast standard at these other 4 airports — and not at their hometown airport? Alaska Airlines – it is time to do the moral and right thing here at home: working wages for our working people who serve us all.” — Rev. Dr. Monica Corsaro, Rainer Beach United Methodist Church
“Why should my employer pay me so much less for doing my job at Sea-Tac when they pay so much more at other airports. There’s no excuse for conditions to be so much worse at our airport.” — Mary Sagbo, DAL Global Services Cabin Cleaner
Low-wage workers at Sea-Tac have taken action repeatedly in recent months to demand that the big airlines like Alaska and the elected officials who oversee our airport ensure that every job at our airport is a good job. Airport workers are among the growing number of low-wage workers across country — including Walmart clerks, fast food workers, janitors, and more — who are rising up to demand that everyone gets a fair shot at a decent living, not just the CEOs who wrecked our economy in the first place.
B-Roll available:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/
0:00 – 0:03 – marchers with airport good jobs signs and international flags (April 2012 rally at Sea-Tac)
0:03 – 0:06 – Make every airport job a good job sticker
0:06 – 0:14 – Faith leaders lock arms with airport workers (September 2012, March to Alaska Airlines HQ)
0:14 – 0:24 – Marchers with signs moving down International Blvd (September 2012, March to Alaska Airlines HQ)
More information:
* Download the complete Below the Radar report or view the Report Webcast on Puget Sound Sage’s website. www.pugetsoundsage.org
* More information about working conditions at Sea-Tac available at itsOURairport.org
Workers overlooked in safety inspection of Sea-Tac fuel operations
On Oct. 5, Working Washington issued the following statement in response to news of an FAA inspection of safety issues in Sea-Tac fueling operation. Two days after Sea-Tac aircraft fuelers announced their overwhelming vote to authorize a strike for safety & fairness, the FAA has reportedly been called in to look into the serious safety issues workers have raised.
However, the FAA inspectors failed to speak to the workers who brought these issues to public attention. In fact, Alex Popescu — the fueler who was suspended after speaking out on safety issues and reporting a broken truck to his manager — only heard about the FAA inspection when contacted about it by the media.
Over the past several months, aircraft fuelers at Sea-Tac have repeatedly raised serious safety concerns with ASIG managers and corporate executives. They have brought serious safety issues like faulty fuel nozzles, loose brakes, and fuel-soaked work shirts directly to Alaska and the other airlines whose planes they are responsible for fueling. And they have spoken to Port Commissioners and other elected officials to make them aware of these matters.
The ASIG fuelers who have spoken out about these safety issues would be happy to talk with the FAA, the Port, Alaska Airlines, or ASIG management in order to improve safety on the job at Sea-Tac.
While the FAA has not spoken to us, workers remain ready, willing, and able to show inspectors the specific equipment they are concerned about in order to ensure that these safety problems are remedied and not swept under the rug.
Sea-Tac aircraft fuelers vote to authorize strike for safety & fairness at work
Contact: Thea Levkovitz, thea@workingwa.org or Sage Wilson, sage@workingwa.org
Possible action by fuelers could cause delays at Sea-Tac
Airport workers who fuel planes for Alaska and most other major airlines at Sea-Tac have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike over retaliation against a co-worker who raised public concerns about safety & fairness issues at our airport. Any job action by these fuelers, who work for a low-wage contractor called ASIG, could cause disruption at Sea-Tac and ripple effects throughout the Alaska Airlines network.
Today at noon, fuelers will hold a press conference to detail the situation that prompted their difficult decision to authorize a strike. They will then deliver official notification of their vote to ASIG management.
When: Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 12 noon
Where: Cell phone waiting lot, 16601 Air Cargo Road, SeaTac, WA 98158. This lot, under the shadow of Sea-Tac's air traffic control tower, is just yards from ASIG management offices.
What: Aircraft fuelers with banners, signs, and large blown-up photos documenting safety issues will hold a press conference to explain their vote to authorize a strike. Joined by community and faith leaders, they will then deliver official notification of their strike authorization vote to ASIG management.
Sea-Tac fuelers voted to authorize a strike after their employer retaliated against Alex Popescu, a fuel technician who has been actively involved in helping co-workers organize around workplace safety issues and other concerns. In August, Alex testified before the Port of Seattle and showed photos of faulty equipment that affect the safety of ASIG workers. On September 12, Alex reported other broken equipment on a truck he was supposed to drive.
He was then suspended indefinitely, and has not been allowed back to work since.
Alex's co-workers are demanding that he be reinstated to his job, and that the safety issues he has raised be addressed and workers' rights respected. They made the difficult decision to authorize a strike only after exhausting every other option, including phone calls, petitions, and direct appeals to the management of ASIG and the airlines who hire ASIG to safely fuel their planes.
"This is about our right to speak out about safety & fairness," explained Gary Yancey, a 14-year fueler. "It's not safe for us to be driving broken trucks. Trying to get rid of someone who was speaking out for all of us doesn't make the airport any safer, and we can't let them get away with it."
Aircraft fuelers are among the thousands of poverty-wage workers at our airport. Together, they are speaking out to make sure every job at our airport is a good job — one that offers good wages & benefits, a safe & healthy working environment, and a fair shot at a better future.
For the latest information, visit itsOURairport.org
Amazon corporate campus to be "occu-pied" by more than a hundred protestors — in chef hats.
***MEDIA ADVISORY*** FOR APRIL 17, 2012 CONTACT: Sage Wilson, sage@workingwa.org
Tax day protesters demand: "Fair's fair. Pay your share."
On Tax Day, more than a hundred workers, students, people of faith, and community leaders will converge in South Lake Union to "occu-pie" Amazon and call on the company to pay their fair share of taxes. With a pie-eating contest and then a march to the company's headquarters campus, we are going to show the giant retailer what a fair share looks like. (Hint: it's more than the 5.5% effective Federal income tax rate they paid.)
A delegation of faith & community leaders will also attempt to deliver a letter to Amazon executives calling on the company to provide a fair deal to communities and workers.
When: Tax Day — Tuesday, April 17th — at 5 pm. March to "occu-pie" Amazon begins at 5:30.
Where: Rally and pie-eating contest in southwest corner of Denny Park (100 Dexter Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109). Fair share march will head to Amazon office building at 410 Terry Ave N, Seattle, WA, 98109 (between Harrison & Republican)
What: March to "occu-pie" Amazon's corporate campus by more than a hundred protesters wearing chef hats and carrying pie. This will follow a pie-eating contest to show Amazon what a fair share looks like.
Amazon will be "occu-pied" on Tax Day because the giant online retailer is a major corporate tax-dodger. They pay an effective Federal income tax rate of only 5.5% — far less than the 35% corporate tax rate set in law. This is on top of their well-known aggressive efforts to avoid paying sales taxes in jurisdictions across the country.
The people's action to "occu-pie" Amazon is part of a series of Fair Share Tax Day events across the country where people are rallying at corporate headquarters, banks, and post offices across the country to demand that big corporations and the rich stop gaming the system and start paying what they owe — just like the rest of us do. If companies like Amazon — and CEOs like Amazon's Jeff Bezos — would pay their fair share, we'd have the resources we need to stop cutting public services and start creating jobs by investing in the future of our communities.
More Information
* Corporate tax dodgers report from Citizens for Tax Justice:
http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2011/11/corporate_taxpayers_corporate_tax_dodgers_2008-2010.php
Working Washington is bringing people together to fight for a fair economy — and that means holding corporations like Amazon.com accountable to pay their fair share and make sure all the jobs they create are good jobs. We're taking creative, direct action to call on elected officials, big corporations, and the top 1% to do what it takes to stop the cuts to education, health care, and other services. It's time to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the top 1%. For more information, visit WorkingWa.org
SeaTac Airport Workers Announce Federal Lawsuit Against Sound Transit
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** Contact: Thea Levkovitz, Thea@workingwa.org
TODAY: SeaTac Airport Workers Announce Federal Lawsuit Against Sound Transit
Today Sea-Tac Airport workers announce a Federal lawsuit filed against Sound Transit. The agency has unfairly rejected a factual ad about thousands of poverty wage jobs at our airport.
When: Today, April 5, 2012, 11:30 AM
Where: Pier 66, Bell Harbor, 2711 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98121
What: Airport workers will announce Federal lawsuit outside Sound Transit Board Retreat at Port of Seattle. Airport worker, Hosea Wilcox, featured in an ad rejected by Sound Transit will speak about poverty wage jobs at our airport
Visuals: Workers will reveal a 3’ x 7’ banner version of the “objectionable” ad.
An ad rejected by Sound Transit has the simple tag line, “Let’s make all airport jobs good jobs.” This is virtually the same message Sound Transit ran as recently as November, 2011 “Stand up for Good Jobs.” In response to this decision, Working Washington has filed a Federal lawsuit over what appears to be a decision to single out this particular content by Sound Transit.
The 4,000 poverty- wage workers at SeaTac think you should know about working conditions at our airport.
Workers like Hosea Wilcox, who is featured the ad has worked at SeaTac as a Sky cap and still makes only minimum wage. “After 31 years working at SeaTac, I was reduced to using food stamps. I just couldn’t get steady full-time hours; often it was just 12 or 15 hours per week. This doesn’t seem right, to reward your loyal workers this way.”
And Hosea Wilcox is s only one of thousands of passenger service workers at our Airport making less than the federal poverty level. They are the taxi cab workers, ramp workers, cabin cleaners, fuelers, cargo workers, ground transportation workers, shuttle drivers, parking lot workers all critical jobs to keep Sea-Tac Airport running.
There is no problem with the ad, the problem is poverty wages at our Airport. Let’s make all jobs at the Airport good Jobs.
The Working Washington ad adheres to the Sound Transit advertising guidelines. We think that Sound Transit should do the same and run our ads. The public has the right to know who keeps our airports running. Workers will not be silenced.
Speakers:
Jonathan Rosenblum, Working Washington
Skycap, Hosea Wilcox, worker featured in the ad
Rahwa Habte, OneAmerica
David West, Executive Director, Puget Sound Sage
Sergio Salinas, President, SEIU Local 6
Other Airport Workers
For additional information: www.itsOURairport.org
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Amazon gets pied--online action on tax fairness swamps Amazon product reviews.
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*** APRIL 3, 2012 Fed up with Amazon's corporate tax dodging, customers use feedback system to review the company itself.
In a first-of-its-kind online action, the Amazon.com webpage for a pie-cutter is being swamped today with "reviews" pointing out the giant online retailer's failure to pay their fair share of taxes. Frustrated by Amazon's tax-dodging, workers, students, and community members from the Seattle area and others from across the country are sending Amazon a message they can't miss — by leaving the message on Amazon's own website:
* "Quite often when divvying up dinner at our family's weekly "Pizza Night", I as the oldest and richest will take the largest slice. My children starve on the leftover scraps, if there is any left. It's so easy to forget that there are others to feed! Now that I have the handy Pie Marker/Cutter 6 Cut, I recognize that my greed, while initially profitable to my waistline, has resulted in my family leaving me! Hopefully the smell of delicious, fairly sized slices of pizza will convince them to return to the family. Thanks for the valuable lesson, Amazon!" —DWeiland
* "While I find it nice that Amazon sells this pie cutter that cuts a pie into equal pieces, it is regrettable to me that they are doing everything they can to hoard all the pie and leave the rest of us dividing the crumbs. From treating their workers poorly, avoiding taxes, and strong arming other businesses Amazon uses dirty tricks to hoard the pie and make their CEO super rich. While we are all left with equally splitting the crumbs…." — Onlythecrumbs
Our creative action seems to have struck a nerve in South Lake Union. While well more than 100 people have written and posted fair share pie cutter reviews, Amazon has removed a good number of these — so there's no doubt Amazon executives are well aware of our message that it's time for them to pay their fair share. However, the word about Amazon's tax-dodging shenanigans continues to spread, and reviews continue to be posted even faster than Amazon can wipe them clean. Click here to see all the dozens of reviews still remaining on the site: http://www.amazon.com/Pie-Marker-Cutter-6-Cut/dp/B002UCB686/
The reviews are in: a can't-miss message about tax dodging
With tax day just 2 weeks away and people across the country getting ready to pay what they owe to the IRS, community members are outraged that Amazon and other big corporations are trying to get away with paying almost nothing in taxes.
In fact, according to a recent report by the Citizens for Tax Justice, the company's effective Federal income tax rate last year was only 5.5% — far less than the 35% rate set in law. Amazon drove their tax rate this low by taking advantage of a loophole that gives them the company a $1 tax deduction for every $1 in options they hand out to top executives. Last year alone, this scheme saved Amazon $276 million — and cost the rest of us that much in cuts to public education, public infrastructure, and other public services.
Since Amazon claims to pride itself on innovation and customer feedback, online activists decided to use those very tools to bring a message to Amazon about their tax-dodging in a way they couldn't miss — by giving a negative review to their corporate tax dodging, mistreatment of workers, and predatory practices.
More information:
* Pie cutter product review page:http://www.amazon.com/Pie-Marker-Cutter-6-Cut/dp/B002UCB686/
* "Corporate tax dodgers" report from Citizens for Tax Justice: http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2011/11/corporate_taxpayers_corporate_tax_dodgers_2008-2010.php
* Seattle Times investigation of Amazon's business practices: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017883596_amazonintro25.html
Working Washington is bringing people together to fight for a fair economy — and that means holding corporations like Amazon.com accountable to pay their fair share and make sure all the jobs they create are good jobs. It's time to stop the cuts to education, health care, and other services so we can build an economy that works for everyone, not just the top 1%. For more information, visit WorkingWa.org
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