More than 100 demonstrators gathered Friday afternoon at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to protest what they described as poverty wages for Delta Air Lines employees and subcontractors, briefly shutting down access to one of MSP’s two terminals.

The rally, planned about a month ago, took on an added dimension in the wake of Delta’s termination of longtime employee and labor activist Kip Hedges. Delta fired Hedges earlier this week, citing “disparaging remarks” he made about the company in a video posted online in October.

“I’m not afraid,” Hedges told fellow protesters outside the Terminal 1 ticketing gate. “And I’m not backing down.”

He’s working to contest his termination with the help of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Hedges, who worked for Delta for 26 years, has long been a vocal supporter of organizing Delta employees and subcontractors under the Machinists Union. More recently, he has been involved with the 15 Now campaign, advocating a $15-an-hour wage floor for Delta workers.

“I’m not anti-Delta,” Hedges said before the rally. “I want my company to prosper. I have a lot invested in this job and this airline.”

Delta did not respond to a request for comment.

Protesters, many holding signs displaying the hashtag #IAmStandingWithKip, chanted “Bring him back!” as Hedges began to speak.

Hedges told the crowd a company that is expected to earn $4 billion this year — $1 billion from its Twin Cities operations alone, he estimated — can afford to pay its workers better than minimum wage.

Abera Siyoum, who helped organize the rally, drives an electric cart as a subcontractor for Delta, ferrying elderly and disabled passengers to their gates.

Siyoum said he earns $8 an hour — Minnesota’s minimum wage since August — and works a second job as a security guard to support his wife and two children. Neither of his jobs offers health benefits or paid days off.

“I work seven days a week, but I’m still not able to support my family,” Siyoum said.

Rep. Keith Ellison, who attended Friday’s rally, drew parallels between efforts to raise wages and recent calls for police reform. Protests erupted nationwide after two separate grand juries declined to indict police officers in the killings of black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York.

“You can’t separate the law enforcement issues from the economic issues,” Ellison told the crowd, adding that someone earning a living wage doesn’t need to sell “loosey cigarettes” on the sidewalk — the offense allegedly committed by Eric Garner before he died at the hands of New York police officers.

Following the rally, protesters marched down the inbound roadway to Terminal 1, blocking traffic for about 15 minutes.

Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said the protesters’ permit allowed them to demonstrate across from the ticketing gate but not on the roadway.

“It was an inconvenience for people trying to get into the terminal at that time,” he said. “But it didn’t have any effect on flights.”

The march followed a similar demonstration the day before in Minneapolis, where protesters decrying police brutality blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 35W for more than an hour as they walked toward City Hall.

Nick Woltman can be reached at 651-228-5189. Follow him on Twitter at @nickwoltman.