Readers have mixed feelings about the initiative.
Eric says:
When a one-bedroom cost $1,000 a month, what do you expect?Max notes:
DIA wastes money on horse statues, Egyptian pharaohs. Paintings and multi million dollar signs... all with taxpayer money... then pay their employees shit.Tafoya explains:
Greedy airport! They make TONS of money while their employees receive pocket change.Alex notes:
Does anybody understand once you raise the minimum wage you add to inflation?Matt says:
Or just get a better job? The last time I made minimum wage was in high school.... How the hell you still making minimum wage when you're a grow- ass adult?Alexandra argues:
Support these workers. My vote is ... Yes!
Keep reading for more stories about workers at DIA.
Catering workers at United Airlines who support the unionizing effort.
Courtesy of Unite Here
Anthony Camera
Participants at the demonstration at DIA on Wednesday, May 23, gather for a group photo.
Courtesy of Joel Pally
Organizers and supporters of the ballot initiative — including UNITE HERE Local 23, the Denver Area Labor Federation, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and Together Colorado — point out that DIA is thriving and will benefit from billions in additional investments during the coming years, while workers employed by some companies operating at the airport make just over $10 an hour.
“DIA is the biggest economic driver in the state...and it's more successful than ever,” UNITE HERE's chapter president, Kevin Abels, says. “Unfortunately, that's not the case for workers. We're here to say Denver and DIA can and must do better.”
Abels highlighted a 2017 report from the Economic Roundtable that cites 6,000 airport workers at DIA making less than $15 an hour, one-third of them earning Colorado's current minimum wage of $10.20 an hour. Meanwhile, the cost of living, especially housing, in Denver is going up.
What do you think about wages at DIA? Let us know in a comment or send an e-mail to [email protected].
