By Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner
All city employees serve the public and add value to our economy, so they deserve a livable wage. That’s why I worked to ensure the hourly wages of city janitors and security officers increased. Now, no city employee earns less than $12 an hour. This ensures the City of Houston retains workers and can recruit talent at all levels of government.
A livable wage shouldn’t be guaranteed only to city employees. Builders who contract with the City committed this year to pay their staffs at least $15 an hour. These are employees who are building homes in our city.
This month the city took a step further. I signed an executive order setting the stage for airlines and concessionaires at Bush Intercontinental, Hobby, and Ellington Airports to ultimately pay employees $12 an hour, well above the federal and state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
This move ensures that our highly rated airports retain high-quality, experienced workforces and that employees and our facilities will continue to thrive. The 58 million-plus passengers who travel through our airports every year deserve no less, and their numbers continue to grow from that peak in 2018.
The order may affect hundreds of workers at the airports, including those working for subcontractors to the airlines and concessionaires.
“For me and my co-workers, this will be the difference between whether or not we are able to pay our rent on time or buy groceries for our family,” said Iris Thomas, a food service worker at Bush Intercontinental. “Working at the airport for years, I’ve met people whose account was always either in the negative or they just can’t survive on what they make.”
Air carriers, such as United Airlines, and airport concessionaires, such as restaurants and souvenir shops, have already participated in productive discussions related to this executive order.
The City seeks gradual gains in minimum wages: $10.39 in 2019, $11.22 in 2020, and $12 in 2021 and 2022.
The order poses no restrictions on employee groups bargaining with employers for wages higher than the new minimums.
No one, and certainly no one who works for the City of Houston in any capacity, should feel as if they don’t have dignity in their work. Part of providing dignity is paying employees a livable wage. As your mayor, I am committed to lifting up all Houstonians.
