Mazzeo Measure Urging Port Authority of NY/NJ & SJTA to Raise Minimum Wage for AC Airport Workers Released by Assembly Panel
(TRENTON) – A measure sponsored by Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo (D-Atlantic) calling on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the South Jersey Transportation Authority to raise the minimum wage for workers at the Atlantic City International Airport was released Thursday by an Assembly panel.
“At the current state minimum wage of $8.25, many full-time airport workers are taking home about $17,000 a year. Considering New Jersey’s high cost of living, how do we expect a family to afford the daily necessities and still thrive on so little?” asked Mazzeo. “I’m not asking the Port Authority & SJTA to make an exception for Atlantic City Airport workers. I’m asking that they extend the same courtesy that has been afforded to workers at the other airports. Increasing the pay for all airport workers instead of a select few is the fair and just thing to do.”
The concurrent resolution (ACR-158) urges the Port Authority and the SJTA to include workers at the Atlantic City International Airport in the new policy adopted by the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners which provides that contractors must pay an appropriate minimum wage to their workers at John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia airports. The policy requires that contractors provide a dollar per hour increase as soon as practicable in 2014 for those earning $9 per hour or less, and an increase to a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour in 2015.
The resolution points to research conducted by Legal Services of New Jersey that showed that a single person working full time and earning minimum wage would only earn half of the necessary funds to meet the “real cost of living.” Legal Services of New Jersey further found that an adult with two school-age children would need to earn approximately $57,000 to support a minimally adequate life budget, including housing, health care, food, child care and transportation in New Jersey.
According to the resolution, the policy was adopted because, according to the Port Authority, the benefits of a higher paid staff include: increased morale; improved customer service; lower worker turnover; and increased experience for those employees who handle vital security functions.
“It would seem to me that you would want all your costumers to benefit from more experienced workers and improved customer service, not just those traveling out of New York and Newark,” said Mazzeo. “I urge the Port Authority and the SJTA to do right by their costumers and all airport employees and give the airport employees in Atlantic City the same pay increase that their counterparts are receiving.”
The measure was released by the Assembly Labor Committee.