Dayton calls for airport pay bump
Gov. Mark Dayton wants the lowest paid workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to get a raise.
Dayton said Wednesday that he will urge the Metropolitan Airports Commission to establish a $10 an hour minimum wage for all airport workers, beginning immediately.
The current state minimum is $8, with scheduled increases to bring it to $9.50 by 2016.
During a speech at a Muslim American Society of America event near the Capitol, Dayton said airport workers deserve to earn a higher wage.
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“The airport industry can afford it,” Dayton said. "One thing about raising the minimum wage at the airport is there’s not going to be a threat to pick it up and move it to South Dakota or to China or to somewhere else. It’s our airport. It’s a public entity and public facility. It ought to better reflect our values as a citizenry.”
Dayton said his proposal was inspired by economic struggles of Ibrahim Mohamed, the minimum-wage earning airport worker he appointed a MAC commissioner last month. Mohamed, of Rosemount, is married with five children.
Legislation moving through the Minnesota House would prevent local units of government from enacting a minimum wage that is different from the state minimum wage.
Rep. Tony Albright, R-Prior Lake, is the bill’s sponsor. Albright said private employers with multiple locations should have certainty about their labor costs.
“We have a state minimum wage, and that should be sufficient and satisfactory,” Albright said.