New York airport workers poised to get $19 minimum wage

New York airport workers poised to get $19 minimum wage by 2023 

POLITICO and the New York Times are reporting local officials today recommended raising hourly wages to a $19 minimum wage at three metro-New York airports.

The staff of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recommended phasing in higher wages for workers at John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports by 2023. The board is expected to approve the recommendation in June — a move that would give workers in New Jersey a raise of more than 80 percent, according to the New York Times.

The staff of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the airports, recommended on Thursday that the agency raise the minimum wage for more than 40,000 airport workers to $19 an hour by the fall of 2023. That would amount to an increase of more than 80 percent in about five years for the lowest-paid workers at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the three major airports operated by the Port Authority.

The wage increase would affect more than 40,000 wheelchair attendants, baggage handlers and airplane cleaners, according to SEIU.

“New York and New Jersey airport workers have led the way and shown that when we work together in unity, we can win,” Héctor Figueroa, the president of SEIU 32BJ, said in a statement.