The Metropolitan Airports Commission refused to protect the jobs, wages or benefits of more than 850 workers Monday as it adopted new policies for companies to run restaurants, stores and concessions at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport.

?This is a message from the clear majority of the commission that the workers here don?t matter,? said Jaye Rykunyk, president of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 17, which represents about 425 of the affected workers. ?They?re treating these workers as if they?re completely disposable.?

The new policies put employees at risk because they pave the way for airport concessions to operate more like a shopping mall, in which a developer sublets space to dozens of individual tenants, all with their own hiring and compensation policies.

Some commissioners say such an approach will generate more revenue for the airport. But commissioner Bob Long of St. Paul, who tried to guarantee that current employees keep their jobs, said he fears vendors will generate additional money simply by reducing wages, benefits and other employee costs. ?We need to get more money out of the contract,? Long said, ?but we don?t need to do it on the backs of the lowest-paid workers.?

The faces and body language of those who turned out to support airport workers tell the story. Union Advocate photo

Destroying a good thing
Lisa Young, who has worked at an airport restaurant for seven years, told commissioners: ?I hope you realize what you?re doing to us all. We are not high school students. We are adults looking for a full-time living.?

Young said she was able to fulfill a dream and buy a house because of the wages she makes at the airport. ?I don?t have a family, but I have a house,? she said. ?If I lose my job, I lose my wages and I lose my house.?

The Rev. Doug Mork, a Lutheran pastor from St. Paul representing the Twin Cities Religion and Labor Network, called the commission?s new policies ?a step backward? that would weaken, not strengthen, families.

Bill Moore, chief of staff of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, told the commission, ?Government employers should be leading the way to greater prosperity, not leading a race to the bottom.? Good jobs, he said, rely on the three-legged stool of good wages, good benefits and a good pension. ?You?re pulling out the whole stool,? Moore said.

Noting that MSP concession operations receive high ratings among airport travelers and won three national awards, Moore asked why the commission was ?disbanding a constructive, positive, successful operation and turning the airport into a Wal-Mart.?

Effort to retain employees fails
Currently, only three companies operate airport concessions. The largest, HMS Host, employs more than 700 workers who receive union wages and benefits under contracts with Local 17 and the Teamsters.

But beginning next March, the commission expects to award as many as 17 eight-year contracts for more than 98,000 square feet of existing concession space, plus an additional 29,000 square feet of new space.

HMS Host can bid to retain its operations, Rykunyk said, but if it does not prevail in the selection process, its workers will be out of a job. Rykunyk labeled the commission?s actions ?union-busting? that will undo 30 years of collective bargaining.

Long?s proposal would have required any new vendor to retain current employees for at least 90 days and to provide health benefits for all employees working more than 20 hours a week. The commission rejected his plan on a 7-5 vote. Siding with Long were Tom Foley of St. Paul, Daniel Boivin and John Williams of Minneapolis, and Carl D?Aquila of Hibbing.

No guarantees
After considering a number of minor modifications, commissioners then adopted a ?request for proposal? that ? despite 42 pages of requirements and more than 120 additional pages of supporting information ? does nothing to guarantee that current workers will get jobs with new vendors, that new vendors will pay living wages, or that new vendors will allow workers to freely exercise their rights to form or join a union.

Several commissioners, including chairwoman Vicki Grunseth, William Erhart of Ramsey and Mike Landy of Bent Tree Acres, expressed reservations about imposing rules and responsibilities on vendors.

Commissioners Coral Houle of Bloomington and Tammy McGee of Maple Grove said public discussion and final revisions in the request for proposal clearly show the concern the commission has about retaining current employees.

Because vendors understand that concern, McGee said, ?market forces will do the right thing.?

But Rykunyk dismissed such statements as ?window dressing? ? just like language that requires successful bidders to hold a job fair for current employees, requires bidders to spell out their compensation packages, and awards a few additional points to bidders who say they?ll retain current employees.

?The bottom line is, there is no retention language in the RFP as a requirement,? Rykunyk said.