Report: First-class Airport, Poverty-class Jobs

The day before Alaska Airlines executives report “stellar” profits at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, a new report from Puget Sound Sage holds the Port of Seattle and Alaska Airlines accountable for their role in creating poverty-wage airport jobs:  

First-Class Profits for Alaska Airlines,
Poverty-Class Wages for Airport Workers

Contact: Thea Levkovitz, 425-443-4013, Thea@workingwa.org  

What: Press conference to release study showing how the Port of Seattle and Alaska Airlines are responsible for setting standards that impact thousands of poverty-wage workers at SeaTac Airport.

Who: Community, faith, and political leaders will discuss the report, First-Class Airport, Poverty-Class Jobs, co-authored by OneAmerica, Faith Action Network, Working Washington and Puget Sound Sage.

When: Monday, May 14, 11 a.m.

Where: Outside the Museum of Flight, 9404 East Marginal Way South, Seattle, WA 98108

Just one day before Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) celebrates its first-class profits, community leaders will join with Sea-Tac Airport workers to release a report that reveals poverty wage conditions for many of the estimated 2,800 airline-contracted workers at Sea-Tac Airport – wheelchair agents, fuelers, baggage handlers, cargo workers, cabin cleaners, skycaps and others. Researchers for the authoring organizations spent months investigating the working conditions of airline-contracted employees at SeaTac. They concluded that Alaska Airlines, which contracts with different companies for these services, and the Port of Seattle, the local government agency that owns and operates SeaTac, share in the responsibility setting low standards that create poverty wage jobs. The report outlines recommendations that Alaska Airlines and the Port of Seattle should take to ensure that all Sea-Tac airport jobs are good jobs.

The report is being issued the day before the annual shareholders meeting of Alaska Air Group, the holding company for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Alaska is the dominant airline at Sea-Tac Airport and is headquartered in the City of SeaTac. At the meeting, which is also being held at the Museum of Flight, Alaska executives will report to shareholders that 2011 profits were $244.5 million, following record profits in 2010 of $251.1 million. Retiring CEO Bill Ayer has noted in his report to shareholders that “2011 was a stellar year.”

For additional information: www.itsOURairport.org