Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Alaska Air, reversing course, will hire baggage handlers it outsourced
Seattle Times:Alaska Airlines is taking its baggage-handling contract at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport away from Menzies Aviation and giving it to a new Alaska Air subsidiary, McGee Air Services.
About 900 Menzies employees — mostly ground crew and some back office staff — will be offered the opportunity to work for McGee and will now be unionized under the Machinists union, said Cees Verkerk, Alaska Air’s managing director of station operations support.
The move comes a dozen years after Alaska outsourced its baggage work to the nonunion firm Menzies, a switch that severely cut wages for its baggage handlers and eventually helped fuel the $15-minimum-wage movement when it launched its first successful initiative campaign in the city of SeaTac.
The initial wages at McGee will be unchanged, but the contract with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union will provide better benefits and incremental pay increases over the next six years, Verkerk said.
About 900 Menzies employees — mostly ground crew and some back office staff — will be offered the opportunity to work for McGee and will now be unionized under the Machinists union, said Cees Verkerk, Alaska Air’s managing director of station operations support.
The move comes a dozen years after Alaska outsourced its baggage work to the nonunion firm Menzies, a switch that severely cut wages for its baggage handlers and eventually helped fuel the $15-minimum-wage movement when it launched its first successful initiative campaign in the city of SeaTac.
The initial wages at McGee will be unchanged, but the contract with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union will provide better benefits and incremental pay increases over the next six years, Verkerk said.