Port commissioners indicate interest in incrementally improving working conditions.
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Airport workers made a push to the Port of Portland Commission to improve working conditions Wednesday.
OregonLive.com‘s George Rede reported on the labor requests that weren’t denied outright.
The PDX Workplace Initiative aims to “enhance the worker experience at PDX” for everyone who works for a contracting company at the airport, ranging from baristas and retail clerks to skycap and baggage handlers. The document, developed in January by port staff after months of public outreach, proposes broad policy guidelines for improving worker benefits, opportunities for career development, and safety, training and equipment standards.
Though the port has no authority to set a minimum wage, it can set workplace standards, contract by contract, with the more than 100 concessionaires and “airport service providers” that employ airport workers, said Kristen Leonard, the port’s public affairs director.
