Workers walk out as Charlotte council approves $3B airport lease deal

Charlotte Douglas International Airport workers who clean cabins or push wheelchairs at 4 a.m. say some sleep in airport terminals or in their cars between shifts. They're asking who the airport's dollars actually reach. Charlotte City Council approved a 10.5-year lease for CLT on Monday night, pushing through a deal worth billions over the objections of frontline workers who walked out of the chamber in protest. The airline use and lease agreement, which takes effect January 1st, covers Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United, and American Airlines, the airport's dominant carrier handling roughly 90% of all flights. City officials project it will generate $3 billion in rent at what ranks as the seventh busiest airport in the world for takeoffs and landings. For many of those airport workers, that revenue figure landed hard. Members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ, asked the council to hold off on the vote. They requested a six-week public. ...public review period and gate recapture provisions that would give the city leverage to protect worker conditions. The council moved ahead anyway. Union members then walked out altogether. The union said the agreement harms residents through high ticket prices, affects passengers with disabilities because of understaffing, and leaves workers, quote, having to work in unsafe conditions, sleeping in cars, and relying on public benefits to try and make ends meet, end quote. Airline officials emphasize the planned projects will generate local jobs, support small business vendors, and expand international service. American Airlines has told workers it isn't the one setting their wages. The airline says third-party contractors, not the carrier itself, determine pay for the disputed service roles, a response that has frustrated organizers who note American is the primary beneficiary of the lease and its expanded operations at CLT. You can read more about this at charlotteobserver.com.