Union calls on Charlotte to help raise airport pay. State law complicates it
Shawn Montgomery’s job working on planes at Charlotte’s airport is a demanding one. As an access control agent at one of the world’s busiest airports, he’s responsible for ensuring cabin safety and sanitation for American Airlines through its contractor, ABM.
His co-workers are also tasked with security searches on international flights , including looking for explosive devices. The starting wage for that work is just $15, he said.
“There’s a kid flipping burgers that’s making anywhere from $19 to $20 an hour that doesn’t have an inch of the accountability and responsibility that my co-workers do,” Montgomery told The Charlotte Observer.
He and more than 600 other airports workers are represented by the Service Employees International Union. The organization is pushing for more pay and better working conditions through its proposed Charlotte Acting for Safety and Efficiency Ordinance. If approved by the city council, this would change the rules for the city’s aviation code.
But state laws prohibits the city from telling businesses at the airport what to do, according to legal experts contacted by The Charlotte Observer.
More than 58.8 million travelers went through CLT last year and they were served by maintenance workers, baggage deliverers, janitors and concession servers represented by the union.
Airport workers and union supporters attended a Charlotte City Council meeting April 28 and asked for approval of the ordinance. Many of them spoke about the issue at the meeting.
State law prohibits dictating wages for workers employed by private companies operating at city-owned locations like the airport, interim City Attorney Anthony Fox said, citing the state’s Wage and Hour Act.
Another state statute regarding contractors also restricts the city’s ability to impose wage regulations on companies providing services under contract, Fox said. And, he said, cities are prohibited from recognizing or negotiating with unions, further limiting Charlotte’s involvement in employee pay.
Some council members questioned Fox’s interpretation of the law. Mayor Vi Lyles directed Fox to provide a written analysis with points raised by the union and clarifying the legal limits. The intent is to guide the next steps.
Kristina Wilson and Rebecca Fisher, assistant law professors at the UNC School of Government, said the issue of the city getting involved in the proposed ordinance is complex due to the legal concept of preemption — where local municipalities having to follow rules set by the state.
Chris Baumann is the SEIU Workers United South Region Director. He called preemption a political tool used by powerful corporations like airlines. And he believes that doesn’t apply here.
The union argued that the state’s preemption power covers broad minimum wage laws that apply to all employers within a city. But that’s not what the proposed ordinance does, according to the union. It applies only to leaseholders or companies permitted by the city to operate at the Charlotte airport.
SEIU said that while the state restricts cities from requiring wage standards in procurement contracts with vendors or service providers, the city isn’t purchasing anything. It’s acting as a private entity selling access to businesses seeking to operate at CLT.
City councils and airport authorities across the country have set wage and benefit standards, according to the union. Those standards have benefited about 200,000 airport workers in states such as Florida, Texas and New York.
“Mayors and city councils figure this stuff out all the time because they’re responsible for creating a safe environment for the public and for the people that goes through the Charlotte airport,” Baumann said. “We think this is a scare tactic.”
Charlotte’s aviation department did not respond to multiple request for comment for this story.
What can the city do?
The union wants the city to step up and make changes. But it’s not that easy when it comes to the law.
While the states Wage and Hour Act appears to prevent cities from enacting ordinances that dictate wage levels or working hours for employers, Fisher and Wilson said this section of the law has yet to be interpreted by the courts, leaving the legal landscape uncertain.
“We’re really kind of in a land of ‘let the best argument win,’ ” Fisher said.
While the city of Charlotte owns the airport, the workers seeking better pay are typically employed by private entities such as airlines and their contractors. This distinction raises questions about the city’s ability to regulate the employment practices of these private companies, Wilson and Fisher explained.
A precedent exists in North Carolina, Fisher added.
Several years ago, attempts by some cities to impose living wage requirements on private firms contracting with the local government led to the state legislature enacting a law that limits a city’s power to impose conditions on private contractors that it could not impose on all businesses.
The union think the city may be able to use its airport contracts to affect how much workers get paid. But others worry that even doing this indirectly could go against what the state law really means, the professors said.
“Those are the two sides of the coin,” Wilson said. “One is sort of literally not an ordinance or a law. It’s a contract. It’s not a legal thing that’s being imposed by the local government.
“The other side of the coin is the spirit of the law,” Wilson added. “It does the same thing as an ordinance or a policy or resolution. In practice, it’s making private folks adjust their payments in order to be able to operate in the airport.”
Hoping for change
The union has seen high turnover rate at the airport due to workers earning less than $15 per hour, and 40% of the workforce faces housing issues, according to Baumann.
“We have faith and we have trust that there are people behind the scenes who support us, who encourage us and are there for us,” Montgomery said. “I have faith that in the future, things will get a lot better.”
Baumann and the union are requesting that the city council hold a hearing to address wage and safety issues, and the ordinance.
“We think we will prevail with our legal argument,” he said. “We (brag about Charlotte) being a great city, right? But why wouldn’t we brag that we have the safest airport in the world, and that this mayor and city council took action to make that happen.”
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