Airport authority profits while food workers “left behind,” study says

A new report released yesterday by UNITE HERE Local 23 shows that at D.C.’s two government-owned airports, the government makes more money per hour from terminal concessions workers than the workers do themselves. The average wage for the workers is just $9.74 an hour, while the airport authority makes $17.17 an hour at DCA and $20.20 at Dulles. And while revenue from airport concessions is growing, wages and working conditions are stagnant. The union also notes that sixty percent of the retail and food workers at the D.C. airports are Ethiopians, making the D.C. airports one of the biggest employers of Ethiopians in the country. “DC airport food workers have been left behind,” says Local 23. “But not for long,” they vow. “Workers at DCA and Dulles are standing up for their rights.” photo: Unite Here 23 Facebook page 

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