The airport is seen by tourists as the starting point for paradise, holidays and escape, for employees, the reality is far from magical. Especially at the Orlando airport, where employees can no longer make ends meet on their salaries. The drop too much.
In two years, the cost of living in Orlando has skyrocketed. If for a long time real estate prices were very attractive, it is now a bygone era. For example, rents have on average increased by more than 35% per month. Adding yet another difficulty to the increase in insurance, electricity, gasoline and everyday products (food and hygiene products). On the other hand, the wages of the maintenance employees of the Orlando airport, them, did not increase a penny.
So how do you get out of it?
The state of play at Orlando airport
Cleaning aircraft cabin cabins after and before each trip is a crucial action. Without these people hired to disinfect the seats and tables of each plane, to clean the floor and the toilets or to dispose of the remaining waste after each flight, the planes would quickly become real odorous and not really pleasant garbage cans. However, if their role is essential, the salaries of these workers suggest the opposite. Between $10 and $15 an hour for a full-time job. And therefore the impossibility of finding another job nearby.
In addition, Orlando airport employees have almost no benefits: no sick leave, no paid vacation leave, no health insurance coverage…
A recent study by the Airport Workers Union claims that 98% of employees leave their jobs at Orlando airport for the same reason: they find a job with better pay and more benefits.
Thus, with such waves of resignation, companies are constantly forced to hire and train new people. A waste of time and money, which has a solution.
The Orlando Airport Employee Rebellion
The straw broke the camel’s back. Some employees are unable to pay their rent and therefore have to live in mobile homes, others work on their days off or at night to pay the bills, most are exhausted, sometimes even far too old to still work under such conditions. So, last August, the Orlando airport employees’ union, SEIU, decided to mobilize to make their voices heard.
And it seems to be starting to make itself heard. Indeed, the mobilization aimed to defend a decent minimum living wage as well as basic social benefits (holidays and health insurance). Notably by supporting the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, a bill introduced by US Senator from Massachusetts, Ed Markey. The goal is to establish a minimum wage of $15 and more as well as the establishment of “vital” social benefits.
But unfortunately, in Florida, local governments cannot pass ordinances requiring private employers to pay their employees more than the state minimum wage.
More money and benefits allowing for more smiles, more willpower and fewer flight delays? Or a minimal salary and no benefits, creating intense moral and physical fatigue and therefore poor workflow?
The answer doesn’t seem so complicated…