Top U.S. hourly wage planned for airport workers

NEW YORK — As many as 40,000 workers at the three big airports that serve New York City are on a path to earn at least $19 an hour, the highest targeted minimum wage set by any public agency in the country and a major development in the battle over boosting income for those at the lower end of the pay scale.

The pay increase, which was approved on Thursday by the commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will raise the wages of tens of thousands of workers over the next five years. It would go well beyond the $15 minimum hourly wage that several cities around the country have enacted and will take effect for many workers in New York state at the end of the year.

The expected vote by the Port Authority board comes after several months of deliberation and years of pleading and pressure from unionized airport workers. The airlines that contract with the companies that employ many of the workers also complained, arguing that higher wages could ultimately force them to pass along the costs to travelers.

The staggered wage increase will apply to most workers at the three airports, including baggage handlers, cabin cleaners and caterers. The Port Authority operates three of the busiest airports in the country: La Guardia Airport and Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

“This is going to be the highest targeted minimum wage anywhere in the country,” said Hector Figueroa, president of 32BJ Service Employees International Union, which represents many of the workers. “That’s a significant breakthrough.”

The biggest beneficiaries will be workers at Newark Liberty Airport, some of whom have been earning significantly less than their counterparts at the New York airports, a remnant of a political divide between the two states.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, endorsed the union-backed campaign for a higher minimum wage that has become known as the Fight for 15. But he ran into opposition from Chris Christie, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, with whom he shared control of the Port Authority.

The Port Authority resolution calls for its first step toward $19 an hour to occur on Nov. 1, followed by annual increases for the next four years.