COVID-19 Related Impacts to Employees – Follow Up
John Aitken, A.A.E. May 23, 2022
Director of Aviation Item (d)4
1 Background
• January 24, 2022 – Airport presented to CED
on the impact that COVID-19 has had on
employees at the Airport.
• Committee ask the Airport to conduct
outreach to the employees and the unions
and to report back to CED.
2 Meetings
• Unions – Met with representatives of UNITE Here (Enrique Fernandez, Sarah McDermott, and Tho Do), which represents the workers from:
– HMS Host (food and beverage)
– Hudson (retail)
• Employees – Held a series of 4 open forum meetings to hear directly from employees
– These meetings were scheduled at various times over two days to accommodate multiple shifts
– Meeting were also offered as a hybrid meeting to accommodate people who wanted to join via Zoom
– Meeting information was shared with the union, tenant managers, and signs around Terminals A & B
– Staff continue to be available following these meetings via email or phone to employees
3 Meeting with UNITE Here
Union Concerns:
• Pandemic has been hard on their workers
• Want to see a recovery
• Focus is on sensible wages, good health care, and a pension • Want regular meetings with Airport staff
– Outcome: Airport and union agreed to schedule quarterly meetings to foster collaboration.
• Questions about when some of the new concessions will be opening
– Outcome: Airport will keep the union informed about any scheduled concession re-openings.
• Would like to see customer service training increase
– Outcome: Airport will explore restarting its customer service training program that existed prior to the pandemic (Airport staffing is the challenge).
4 Meeting with UNITE Here (cont)
Union Concerns:
• Concerned for the safety of their workers
– Risk of workers being exposed to COVID
– Passengers not following mask rules
– Staff don’t want to police mask wearing
– Encouraging their workers to get vaccinated
• Discussions about the differences between the City Living Wage policy that covers City service contracts for 18 categories compared with the Airport Living Wage which applies to all businesses at the Airport
– Outcome: Airport provided an explanation of the difference. • Acknowledged worker shortage and wants to help find more workers.
– Outcome: Airport and union will work together to collaborate and coordinate on outreach for job fairs and job recruitment. 5 Employee Meetings
Employee Concerns:
• Homeless individuals at the Airport create security and safety issues for those working in the evening and at night
– Outcome: Airport has increased its presence and monitoring, especially during the off-hours. Employees park in the Terminal A garage and can use the enclosed walkway to the TSA checkpoint. • Road safety for crossing streets around the Airport
– Outcome: Airport will be improving crosswalks and has an initiative to focus on pedestrian safety.
• Passengers often ask tenant staff for assistance or directions to their gates, especially after walking through the TSA checkpoint – Outcome: Customer service program to address passenger interactions. Airport will also check-on signage around the checkpoints.
6 Employee Meetings (cont)
Employee Concerns :
• Getting to work
– Buses around the Airport take a while with multiple stops – TSA lines can be a challenge, especially when long
– Outcome: Confirmed that concession staff are allowed to use priority lanes or to jump to the front of the line. Communicated this to all concessionaires and their staff.
• Airport Living Wage – question about the difference with City Living Wage policy
– Outcome: Airport provided an explanation of the difference • COVID Sick Leave – will State’s COVID sick pay be retroactive to 1/1 – Outcome: Directed to Union. (Law was passed after the employee meetings making this retroactive.)
• Employee parking – why do some companies subsidize parking while others don’t?
– This is a company specific decision.
7 Open Door
8 • The Airport and UNITE Here will have regular
quarterly touch base meetings going forward.
• Any employee with questions, complaints, or
concerns can always contact:
Magdelina Nodal
Senior Analyst, Airport
408.392.3673
[email protected]