Denver, Colorado, Airport Employees Minimum Wage Increase Initiative (May 2019)
| Denver Airport Employees Minimum Wage Increase Initiative |
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| The basics |
| Election date: |
| May 7, 2019 |
| Status: |
 Withdrawn
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| Topic: |
| Local wages and pay |
| Related articles |
| Local wages and pay on the ballot May 7, 2019 ballot measures in Colorado Denver County, Colorado ballot measures |
| See also |
| Denver, Colorado |
Unite Here Local 23 collected enough signatures to place a citizen initiative to raise the minimum wage for employees working at the Denver International Airport on the ballot for Denver voters in Colorado on May 7, 2019. The initiative was withdrawn from the ballot. Leading up to the election, Mayor Michael Hancock proposed his own measure designed to raise the minimum wage for city employees and contractors, including workers within Denver International Airport. The Denver City Council voted to approve the mayor's bill on March 11, 2019.[1][2]
A "yes" vote would have been a vote in favor of requiring private employers at the airport to pay a minimum wage of:
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| A "no" vote would have been a vote against increasing the minimum wage requirement for private employers at the Denver International Airport. |
City council minimum wage ordinance
On March 11, 2019, the Denver City Council voted unanimously to approve a bill proposed by Mayor Michael Hancock, which enacted minimum wage increases for all employees of the city, city contractors, and workers employed on city property. The bill, CB 19-0163, included workers employed at the Denver International Airport, leading proponents of the citizen initiative to withdraw the initiative from the May ballot.[1][2]
CB 19-0163 authorized wage increases following the same schedule as the citizen initiative, with the minimum wage for city employees and contractors rising from $11.10 an hour to:
- $13 in July 2019;
- $14 in July 2020; and
- $15 in July 2021.
Initiative design
Wage increases
The initiative was designed to increase the minimum wage paid by Denver International Airport employers by annual increments of $1 per hour to reach $15 per hour on July 1, 2021.[3]
Definition of employer and exemptions
The initiative defined airport employer as any permitted or contracted entities and their subcontractors conducting commercial activity at the airport. This did not include ground transportation providers, construction contractors, solar energy providers, agricultural businesses, or businesses performing occasional or irregular work at the airport.[3]
Small business employers—those with 30 or fewer total employees—would have been exempt from the minimum wage increases.[3]
Penalties
Under the initiative, airport employers found to be paying employees less than the defined minimum wage would have been required to pay a statutory penalty of $100 per employee for each day such employee received the lower wage. An employee would have been able to initiate a civil action against an employer in violation of the minimum wage provisions. The initiative specified that the Denver city auditor would investigate violations and distribute three times the amount of actual damages to affected employees and to the general fund for statutory penalties and costs of suit.[3]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for the initiative was as follows:[3]
| “ |
Shall the voters of the City and County of Denver adopt a measure that secures a higher minimum wage for employees who work at the Denver International Airport by requiring private employers at the Airport (with exceptions for small businesses and for certain other types of employers) to pay their employees who work at the Airport at least $13 per hour, increasing in annual increments to $15 per hour by July 1, 2021 and thereafter increasing according to the Consumer Price Index, and by providing the right to enforce that wage, and by prohibiting retaliation against employees for trying to enforce the wage?[4] |
” |
Full text of initiative
The full text of the initiative is available here.
Support
Proponents
Unite Here Local 23 led the petition effort to place the initiative on the ballot and led the campaign in favor of the initiative. According to the union chapter's Facebook page, "Local 23 was founded in September 2009 to represent approximately 4,000 UNITE HERE airport workers in 10 cities across the country."[5]
Denver chapter president for Unite Here Local 23, Ken Abels, stated, "Our ballot measure is an opportunity to lift up thousands of families in our community.”[6]
Opposition
Arguments
Airlines for America (A4A) wrote a letter to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock's deputy chief of staff arguing against a $15 minimum wage for airport employees. The group stated on its website that it "vigorously advocates on behalf of the American airline industry as a model of safety, customer service and environmental responsibility and as the indispensable network that drives our nation’s economy and global competitiveness."[7]
A4A Vice President Rob DiLucia wrote in the letter that the wage increase "would result in additional costs being passed on to the air traveler and reducing the attractiveness of Denver as a premier destination or hub for airline operators.” The letter was delivered to the mayor's office in response to the minimum wage increase proposal from Mayor Hancock.[8]
Background
Unite Here Local 23 began the effort to collect signatures for the minimum wage initiative in August 2018. After the group submitted signatures in October, the Denver Elections Division verified on November 19, 2018, that a sufficient number of signatures had been submitted to place the measure on the May ballot. The week prior, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock had stated that he was considering his own proposal to increase the minimum wage for city employees and employees working in city facilities, including the Denver International Airport.[9]
On February 14, 2019, Mayor Hancock announced his proposal for a minimum wage increase for city workers that would follow the same schedule as the increase proposed in the citizen initiative, with the minimum wage rising from $11.10 an hour to $13 in July 2019, $14 in July 2020, and $15 in July 2021. The Denver City Council voted unanimously in favor of Council Bill 19-0163 on March 11, 2019, approving the mayor's proposed minimum wage increases. The bill included minimum wage increase for city contractors, including airport employees, thus making voter approval unnecessary to raise airport employees' wages. The citizen initiative was withdrawn from the ballot following the approval of Council Bill 19-0163.[10][11][1][2]
Path to the ballot
Kevin Abels, Samuel Geaney-Moore, Grace Jencks, Joshua Downey, and Darren Williams submitted the initiative petition with the Denver Elections Division on August 6, 2018. Ballot language was approved on August 15, 2018. Proponents needed to collect 4,726 valid signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. In Denver, signatures equal to 5 percent of the votes cast for mayoral candidates in the preceding mayoral election are required to put an initiative before voters. On October 23, 2018, proponents submitted 17,388 signatures, and the elections division declared that the number of valid signatures was sufficient on November 19, 2018.[12][13]
See also
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Denver Channel, "Denver passes $15 per hour minimum wage for city workers," March 11, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Denver City Council, "Bill 19-0163," accessed March 12, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Denvergov.org, "Petition for Initiated Ordinance," accessed February 16, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Facebook, "Unite Here Local 23," accessed February 27, 2019
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Thousands of DIA workers could get a pay boost to $15 an hour under minimum wage ballot proposal," August 3, 2018
- ↑ Airlines for America, "About Us," accessed February 27, 2019
- ↑ CBS Denver, "Airlines Blast Proposed Denver Minimum Wage Hike, Say Travelers Will Pay More," February 7, 2019
- ↑ The Denver Post, "$15-an-hour minimum wage for private workers at DIA qualifies for Denver ballot," November 19, 2018
- ↑ The Denver Channel, "Denver Mayor Michael Hancock proposes raising minimum wage to $15 per hour for city employees," February 14, 2019
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Colorado Democrats seek to let Denver, other cities raise their minimum wage," February 25, 2019
- ↑ Denvergov.org, "Initiated Ordinance Process," accessed February 13, 2019
- ↑ The Denver Channel, "DIA $15 minimum wage will be on May ballot in Denver," November 19, 2018
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