- Angus Maguire
Workers at Portland International Airport today joined employees at eight other US airports for a day of civil disobedience to call for Alaska Airlines to pay their employees higher wages and recognize their right to organize a union.
Dozens of workers in Portland staged a sit-in and sang “We Shall Not Be Moved,” on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They were joined by workers in Boston, Chicago, Miami, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and Seattle.
“We know Alaska Airlines can afford to do better for workers, passengers and this community,” says Tina Cummins, an airplane cabin cleaner at the Portland airport. “We are here today to stand up and shine a light on poverty-wage jobs and serious concerns around health and safety.”
Cummins has worked at the airport for nearly a decade and makes about $12 an hour. Many of Cummins’ coworkers earn minimum wage, which even at 40 hours per week, amounts to less than $20,000 a year.
In 2014, Alaska Airlines recorded $605 million in profits and paid out $68 million in dividends to shareholders, according to Jesse Stemmler, communications director for SEIU Local 49.
“Alaska brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits each year, in large part because of the efforts of those who work for them,” says Portland airport janitor Julie Hayden. “It’s a shame they continue choosing to pay poverty wages. For a company that claims to believe in fair pay and benefits for all workers, they can afford to do better.”