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News & ArtsThursday, May 31, 2012
Transportation / Politics Delta Contractor Lays Off Skycap Featured in Ad Campaign Demanding "Good Jobs" at Sea-Tac
Posted by Goldy on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 5:08 PM
- 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?
5
9.70 an hour PLU tips. How convienient that they leave that part out isnt it? Average a dollar a bag, and lets say average 20 bags an hour and you soon realize this is another cheap union ploy.
6
@5... What about the other airport employees? What about the the Menzies Baggage Handlers at $9.25. Or the Aircraft Service International Group's Aircraft Fuelers at $10.00?
No raises, No Cost of Living Adjustments... Nothing...
Oh, but we do get ever increasing healthcare costs.
All we get is continued workplace harassment from employers. Threats of pay cuts and cutting down our hours. Broken down equipment, safety issues...
You still think it's a cheap union ploy? It's not a cheap ploy, it's called wanting our workplace rights...
No raises, No Cost of Living Adjustments... Nothing...
Oh, but we do get ever increasing healthcare costs.
All we get is continued workplace harassment from employers. Threats of pay cuts and cutting down our hours. Broken down equipment, safety issues...
You still think it's a cheap union ploy? It's not a cheap ploy, it's called wanting our workplace rights...
7
Any of you talking shit, go down and get yourself a job doing what they do everyday! If it weren't for these service workers, we wouldn't have our bags carried for us, our invalid grandmas pushed in wheel chairs in the airport, our plane lavs clean so you can drink 7 dollar beers and piss all over the place in-flight. I'm damn happy to tip nicely knowing that these people are getting F'd over and taken advantage for the sole reason that they're just trying to make a living doing whatever they know to do. There is a place in this world for everyone and a certain amount of respect for them in their place. No one should be singled-out and shit on like this.
9
@8, His hours have been cut after 31 years on the job and he has to rely on food stamps. Isn't he a good example of someone who doesn't make a living wage? How is that a marketing mistake?
10
I love the knee-jerk it's all a "union ploy" types who know fuck all about the situation, yet run their mouth to bash unions and workers at the first opportunity.
11
So, all you internet complainers, you go hire them for $15.00 per hour. Make your stand, fight the power. Pay those people a living wage to mow your lawn, watch your kids, or do nothing, if there is nothing to do.
Yeah, that is what I thought. Fucking crickets, that is what you hear when it is YOUR money. But yeah, someone else should pay them more, right? Someone else...
Oh, and trust me, no trust funder here; I had shittier jobs than any of you. Cleaning toilets was a step up for me.
But you people are all talk. None of you sign the *front* of the paycheck.
Yeah, that is what I thought. Fucking crickets, that is what you hear when it is YOUR money. But yeah, someone else should pay them more, right? Someone else...
Oh, and trust me, no trust funder here; I had shittier jobs than any of you. Cleaning toilets was a step up for me.
But you people are all talk. None of you sign the *front* of the paycheck.
12
Yeah @8. Imagine if you'd worked 31 years at GE or Ford or McDonald's. You'd be doing way better than $9.70 an hour. Maybe he made a poor career choice.
14
I love you Goldy, but your reaction on this is knee-jerk liberal, and I am VERY liberal! This is an unskilled position that gets tips. Why should someone who does absolutely nothing to improve their skills in 31 years of working at an entry-level unskilled position expect to earn $60 or $80K? We would all be subsidizing the cost of that thru higher airport fees. What about the folks who have worked hard to improve their skills to earn $60 or $80K? It wouldn't be fair to them. If he's upset about his pay and tips, then he has every opportunity to take a position somewhere else that pays more or provides opportunities for him to gain skills and improve his pay.
17
@ 14: I know right? He's so experienced at lifting things, why didn't he just lift himself up by those famous bootstraps we all keep hearing about?
18
@9: Because unlike many other contract positions at SeaTac, skycaps earn tips, making claims of poverty easy to dismiss.
19
If it wasn't a big deal, then why was he not taken on by the new company? Could be age discrimination, but by singling these three out, it most likely is the fact that they stood up for themselves.
These three may have fully realized the risks. As a skycap, you do make tips. Perhaps they have been able to sock away a nest egg. Maybe they chose to go to bat for the rest of the employees who make the same wage, but get no tips. That makes them heroes.
$10/hr is $400 a week or $20, 800 per year (not even close to 60K, which I assume you pulled out because that actually is a living wage) if one works all 52 weeks per year or has paid vacation. Out of that comes SS taxes, income taxes, health care. Lets' say conservatively that 30% of his income goes to those three items. What does that leave? $14,560, or approximately $1, 200 a month. That is not a lot of money to live on in the Seattle metro area.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I really enjoy having a 40 hour work week and two day weekends, even if I choose to work more because I like my job. I appreciate the lower rates for health care I get by having a group rate though my employer. I love paid vacations. Unions are the reason we have those.
So perhaps you think the time for unions is over: we already have good working conditions. Hmmm..well why then is an expectation growing from employers (especially for those employees who do make 60-80K)to work longer hours and be available on weekends?
These three may have fully realized the risks. As a skycap, you do make tips. Perhaps they have been able to sock away a nest egg. Maybe they chose to go to bat for the rest of the employees who make the same wage, but get no tips. That makes them heroes.
$10/hr is $400 a week or $20, 800 per year (not even close to 60K, which I assume you pulled out because that actually is a living wage) if one works all 52 weeks per year or has paid vacation. Out of that comes SS taxes, income taxes, health care. Lets' say conservatively that 30% of his income goes to those three items. What does that leave? $14,560, or approximately $1, 200 a month. That is not a lot of money to live on in the Seattle metro area.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I really enjoy having a 40 hour work week and two day weekends, even if I choose to work more because I like my job. I appreciate the lower rates for health care I get by having a group rate though my employer. I love paid vacations. Unions are the reason we have those.
So perhaps you think the time for unions is over: we already have good working conditions. Hmmm..well why then is an expectation growing from employers (especially for those employees who do make 60-80K)to work longer hours and be available on weekends?
21
Lets' say conservatively that 30% of his income goes to those three items."
Are u fucking kidding me? After the EIC (aka welfare check from the IRS), deductions, someone making $20k a year will pay close to nothing in taxes. HE will be part of the 50% of Americans who pay no income tax (especially on those tips they don't report). THe EIC covers FICA taxes,
Sorry, if you want to earn $60K a year, learn some skills and develop some motivation to get ahead.
No wonder the Chinese will eat our lunch with so many lazy entitled fuckups in the country.
Are u fucking kidding me? After the EIC (aka welfare check from the IRS), deductions, someone making $20k a year will pay close to nothing in taxes. HE will be part of the 50% of Americans who pay no income tax (especially on those tips they don't report). THe EIC covers FICA taxes,
Sorry, if you want to earn $60K a year, learn some skills and develop some motivation to get ahead.
No wonder the Chinese will eat our lunch with so many lazy entitled fuckups in the country.
22
@14 Right on. And @15, it is possible to be a liberal and take a more centrist position on some issues. Our labor market is subject to supply and demand, as are most of our markets in our capitalist system. If a job calls for no skills or skills that many other workers have (such as the ability to speak and understand English, arrive to work on time, and be professional with customers), then the buyer (the firm) can and will pay less for that worker. That's a fact of life. The best way to help people who are unskilled is to improve education and provide training so that they become skilled and can command better wages in the marketplace.
23
@22, There are millions of jobs that require little to no skills. In fact, the immense majority of jobs created today are low skills-low wage jobs and by all accounts, between the demise of manufacturing due to outsourcing and automation, there is little reason to think that it is going to be different in the foreseeable future. It's not like we are talking about kids finishing schools on their way to better things for christ sake. Do you really think the liberal vision of our future is a society permanently with millions of families failing to make ends meet while other justify it by claiming "it's a fact of life"?
24
@22: When I said, 'Yep, you are a liberal all right,' I was being sincere. In my experience self-described liberals are just a variation on conservative. They lean left in good times, right in bad; they speak of helping people (without actually doing so) but then also blame them.
The rationalizations may have less zeal that many conservatives, but it's the same ignorant, self-centered, small-minded bullshit.
You my friend are a total liberal.
The rationalizations may have less zeal that many conservatives, but it's the same ignorant, self-centered, small-minded bullshit.
You my friend are a total liberal.
25
Have never used the services of a skycap, it's always seemed like something only for well-to-do types.
26
I meant to say self-described liberals are OFTEN just a variation on conservative, I have met many good-hearted, open-minded liberals too.
27
It's easy to dismiss people working unskilled jobs and blame them for their own condition. Sadly the issue is much more complex and ignoring it has dangerous long-term economic consequences for us all.
Don't forget, people who cannot support themselves become a burden to society and so it is to the advantage of all that Government takes proactive, corrective steps to assure a basic quality of life for everyone. Is this Socialism? Depends on how it is done. But the fact is, Laissez-faire Capitalism has NEVER has been viable longterm and always creates such a concentration of wealth that it undermines the very consumer system it is reliant upon.
Nobody with a conscience wants people starving in the streets, although sometimes the way some Conservatives talk about the poor you think they wouldn't mind.
Don't forget, people who cannot support themselves become a burden to society and so it is to the advantage of all that Government takes proactive, corrective steps to assure a basic quality of life for everyone. Is this Socialism? Depends on how it is done. But the fact is, Laissez-faire Capitalism has NEVER has been viable longterm and always creates such a concentration of wealth that it undermines the very consumer system it is reliant upon.
Nobody with a conscience wants people starving in the streets, although sometimes the way some Conservatives talk about the poor you think they wouldn't mind.
28
I think it's rather telling that people who justify a permanent underclass in the name of the "free market" also completely fail to address the main topic of Goldy's post: 3 workers were let go because they stood up for themselves and co-workers.
29
"workers were let go because they stood up for themselves and co-workers."
Show us the memo that proves that and maybe we won't think you're simply full of shit.
Show us the memo that proves that and maybe we won't think you're simply full of shit.
30
@20: I'm speaking purely from a marketing perspective, not how I feel personally. A baggage handler making minimum wage would've been an better image to use.
31
@24 @17 @23 @27 I find you smug, 'ascended' ones the most offensive. You hold to your high ideals and offer no pratical solutions. I do believe there are many complicated isues that can trap people in poverty. I don't believe a skycap worker earning minimum wage plus some nice (and probably untaxed) tips is not someone in that situation, and who, after 31 years, had every opportunity to earn more. He likely has no right to whine, and is certainly not an appropriate example of folks who are dealing with real hardships. There are millions of unskilled jobs, but there are many skilled jobs too. How many of you have worked for 31 years for minimum wage? I find that employers seek out those who are willing to learn new things and take on job responsibility, and pay them more than minimum wage, in our certainly frought-with-problems capitalism. i agree with 28, but that wasn't what I was reacting to in Goldy's post.
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