Building on efforts by fast food workers and others to demand higher pay, workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport called on the Metropolitan Airports Commission to institute a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

On Monday, the workers, organized through the 15 Now Action Group, presented the commission with petitions signed by 1,000 low-wage workers at the airport. They called on the commission to require companies doing business at the airport to pay at least $15 an hour.

“The CEO of Delta [Airlines], Richard Anderson, makes $5,500 an hour, and his company netted $2.3 billion in profits last year,” said Kip Hedges, a Delta baggage handler. “But many of Delta’s workers live in poverty, and Minnesota taxpayers are forced to pay the difference with food stamps and other social services.”

Of the approximately 10,000 people employed in jobs at the airport, more than 2,500 make substantially less than $15 an hour. They range from Delta baggage handlers and ticket agents to workers employed by contractors to provide wheelchair and cart service to disabled passengers.

Many of these jobs used to pay $20 an hour or more with good benefits, but have been downgraded through union-busting, subcontracting and other methods.

“By outsourcing sensitive jobs like cleaning airplanes to the lowest bidder, Delta and other airlines have created an unstable and over-stretched workforce, lowering security to maximize their profits,” said Ty Moore, the national organizer for 15 Now. “This also undermines customer service, particularly to elderly and disabled passengers who rely on low-paid workers without adequate training.”

Workers gathered outside the Metropolitan Airports Commission meeting at the Eagan Community Center with signs reading “$15 Now: Because the Rent Won’t Wait.” Then several representatives spoke before the meeting.

Marty Knaeble, a ramp worker at MSP Airport for the past 16 years, presented the commissioners with the petitions and urged them to set an example by adopting a $15-an-hour minimum.

“Studies of airports like St. Louis, San Francisco, and Los Angeles that raised their minimum wage to over $15 an hour show dramatic decreases in employee turnover and improved customer service,” explained Ginger Jentzen, the Minnesota organizer for 15 Now.

The campaign at MSP is emerging less than two weeks after a strike by fast food workers in the Twin Cities and amid growing discussion among Minneapolis City Council members about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour citywide, a proposal initiated in March by 15 Now Minnesota.

Monday’s action at the Airports Commission drew support from other unions, including Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 and Service Employees International Union Local 26, which is engaged in a union organizing drive among some airport workers.

The group 15 Now is a national organization started in Seattle, where it led the successful movement to pass a citywide minimum wage of $15.

“This is part of a nationwide struggle for $15,” noted Hedges. “The fast food strikes raised expectations, then Seattle workers showed it could be won. Now it’s our turn.”

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