Working Washington
  • Working Washington

Hosea Wilcox, the Sea-Tac skycap featured in ads demanding "good jobs" at the airport, now has no job at all.

After 31 years serving passengers at Sea-Tac, Wilcox, along with two other veteran skycaps, Alejandro Geracio and Baltazar Pineda, lost his job when Delta Airlines switched contractors providing passenger services. The new contractor, Bags Inc., hired all the other skycaps back, except Wilcox, Geracio, and Pineda.

I guess that'll send a message to other airport workers not to make waves.

Sea-Tac's contract workers—wheelchair attendants, skycaps, ramp workers, baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, and fuel technicians—have the lowest average wages of any west coast airport, averaging only $9.70 an hour, and obviously none of the job protections afforded unionized workers. Ain't capitalism grand?