TAMPA, Fla. — Anthony Sanders has worked for the past four years as a subcontractor at Tampa International Airport as a wheelchair attendant and baggage handler. He makes $10 an hour.

"It’s tough working for $10 an hour, especially if you like what you do at your job,“ the Bronx native told Spectrum Bay News 9 recently. "Ten dollars an hour, It’s not enough for me. We work pretty hard, you know?”

Sanders has been out of work for several months, however, due to a blood clot in his leg, meaning he’s not bringing in any income right now. In fact, 90% of contracted workers in four of Florida largest airports have no access to paid sick leave, according to a study conducted by the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ.

That same report shows that airline-contracted employees at TPA make, on average, $11.66 an hour. That’s substantially lower than the $17 an hour wage that contracted airport workers make at both Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

The reason for that is that Miami-Dade County and Broward County have living wage ordinances that officials have amended to include airport workers, and both counties operate their respective airports.

In contrast, the aviation authorities that run the Orlando and Tampa airports have never passed such living wage ordinances, meaning that airline contractors there have never been required to pay above the state minimum wage — which is currently $10 an hour, and $6.88 for tipped workers.  

While a 2019 state court ruling says that those living wage ordinances are no longer enforceable for airline contract workers, airline contractors at both the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports are still paying them more than $17 an hour, union officials said.

“Airlines have continued to outsource, especially jobs that are not involved in the plane flying,” said Helene O’Brien, the 32BJ SEIU Florida District director. “You’ll find jobs that are local and based at airports are now outsourced. So the airlines hire the lowest bidder in most cases.”

The union represents approximately 2,500 contracted airport service workers in Florida. Between April and July of this year, they surveyed 639 of them at four Florida airports: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport; Miami International Airport; Orlando International Airport; and Tampa International Airport.

Officials say the statistics that emerged from that survey were stark:

• 85% of those workers surveyed reported that they had trouble paying their bills

• 38% of workers said they share their housing costs with others who aren’t their partner or spouse

• 79% of respondents stated that they do not get any paid vacation or paid personal days from their employers

In the case of Sanders, he lost his apartment when he couldn’t keep up with his rent, and now lives with a family friend.

Advocates are backing the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, which was introduced earlier in the summer in the U.S. Senate by Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey and in the House by Illinois Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia. Florida co-sponsors of the legislation include Democratic Reps. Val Demings and Darren Soto.

Specifically, the legislation would:

• Prevent small, medium and large hub airports from accessing federal funds unless airport service workers are paid the prevailing wage and benefits as established by the Department of Labor
  
  
• Require airports to ensure that service workers employed by vendors (such as restaurants and retail stores) are paid the prevailing wage and benefits
  
  
• Apply to $11 billion in airport funding each year, including $3.2 billion in Airport Improvement Program grants, $3.5 billion that airports receive from passenger facility charges, and $4 billion in funds under the bipartisan infrastructure law

The issue has attracted Florida lawmakers like Demings, who is now the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Marco Rubio. She met up with Sanders and other contracted airport workers at Tampa International in July.

“The pay is not enough to live on,” she said. “The benefits are not enough to survive. If they don’t come to work, they don’t get paid. Now imagine that — but every day the traveling public is depending on them to be in place to serve.”

A spokesperson for Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said he is reviewing the proposal. Representatives from Rubio’s office did not respond to Spectrum News' request for comment.