How Low Can You Go?

That low? Really?

I didn't sleep well last night, thinking about a Michael Powell "Gotham" column in yesterday's New York Times. I wish the same fate on the guys at the top of the PrimeFlight pyramid, but I probably won't get my wish.

For those of you who missed it, Powell talked to many of the thousands of people who "scrub toilets, climb into baggage bins and under seats, restock food, haul bags and polish bathroom doors and seatbelts to a glittering shine" at the three major New York City airports.

He talked to a 52-year-old Colombian immigrant who pushes wheelchairs at LaGuardia, and whose pay has been cut from $7.25 an hour to $6.15. Why? The wheelchair operator was told that it was because "sometimes you will get a tip." Sometimes.

Take a moment and do the math. $6.15 an hour for 40 hours is $246 a week. $246 a week for 52 weeks is $12,792 (by the way, no benefits and no paid days off). With $1,000 a month to spend, try finding a place to live in Queens, NY, with enough left over to pay for  food to eat. Forget about the incidentals of clothes and transport. And if you get sick?

Powell wrote that "Port Authority officials are sympathetic" but claim that their hands are tied, because the workers to whom Powell spoke aren't Port Authority employees but rather employees of private contractors.

But how hard would it be to change things? As Powell noted,

Thirteen years ago, San Francisco International Airport raised the minimum wage for all airport employees, including wheelchair operators, baggage handlers, and ramp and airline ground workers. They get a minimum of $12.93 per hour, with 12 paid days off per year, and health coverage from employers. 

$12.93 per hour works out to $26,894.40 a year. Hardly lavish, especially in another city whose cost of living is high. But a living wage.

The man who pushes wheelchairs at LaGuardia works for PrimeFlight, whose website proclaims itself the "gold standard" in airline services. PrimeFlight's holding company, SMS Holdings, made $330 million in revenue last year.

I hope the senior executives at PrimeFlight start sleeping badly. But I doubt they will. What can we do? Well, for God's sake, you can start by tipping wheelchair operators at LaGuardia generously. And thank them.