I worked out at the airport clearing freight and let me tell you, those jobs at Menzies are horrible. They work for little wages, work on holidays, and generally have very little education or training. They're very nice people, but they are the kind of people that McDonald's hires and has to have pictures of the food on the cash register buttons.

Skycaps make tips... sometimes lots of them. In some regions they make six figures. I sincerely doubt the skycaps in question make zero tips.

If you can make more money working somewhere else, you should probably do it.

@2: Jordan has not been a skycap for 7 years.

And while skycaps used to make tips, not much anymore. When airlines started charging for curbside check-in, tips went down. Then they eliminated curbside check-in. Finally they started charging for checking bags, meaning many people stopped checking bags.

Not many skycaps left anymore.

If nothing else there is the security issue of having people paid that little at the airport. If I can't carry a bottle of water in I don't see why people that easy to bribe should be in there.

Skycaps are in a position to garner tips, as are wheelchair attendants (though much less frequently). Ramp workers, baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, and fuel technicians, not so much, unless flight crews throw them a bone every now and then, though I doubt it. If they all earn roughly the same official wage from the same contractor, I'm guessing there's a lot of behind-the-scenes competition (read "bribery to supervisors") needed to land a tipped position.

I would darn near kill to be able to pay $300 for "family" insurance coverage, let alone an individual policy. That said, I wish them luck in their quest. They'll need it.

The national minimum wage should be $25 an hour.

@5, shows you how long since I've flown. But don't they still cart bags from baggage claim to ground transport?

News Flash @2:

When you pay people a LIVING WAGE, they generally don't need to rely on tips to get by. Ever been to Europe? If so, did you ever tip or see anyone else tip waitstaff in a bar or restaurant? You know WHY nobody tips in Europe? Because they DON'T HAVE TO.

@5
First European customers do tip. Second, they don't tip as much because the tip is usually included in the bill, or haven't you ever heard of 'service compris?' Third, you're right, in part. Waitstaff tend to be professional waitstaff, not actors who haven't made it or college kids which does make dining out a lot more pleasant. Fourth, those waiters aren't exactly rolling in money. Usually they don't own a car or a house, because they can't afford it. The only thing that makes their lives possible is the cradle to grave European nanny state which does all but wipe your rear after you go to the bathroom. Have YOU ever been to Europe?

Like Europe so much move there. Hate your job so much, change jobs. Otherwise, suck it up and do your job and quit the damn whining.

Sorry, should have read @12, not @5

The pay for a job that takes no education or any special skills is low. Color me surprised.

If they had trouble finding qualified workers, the pay would be higher.

As the average is above the state minimum, the balance between supply and demand seems to be met. This is a non-story unless you've flunked economics.

@ 14, YOU are the one who once threatened to leave America. Remember that? I do. I can't wait for you to hurry up and do it.

In the mid 80's my Dad worked part-time for UPS while in grad school and made $9 an hour. I worked for UPS in 2009 after college and made $9 an hour. It isn't just airport jobs.

Yes SB, I have in fact been to Europe on several different occasions and traveled from one end (Ireland) to the other (Turkey), with numerous stops in between. Not only did I rarely see anyone tipping during any of those trips (Italy being the sole notable exception), but initially, I was actively discouraged from the practice, as I was informed (by several waitstaff, no doubt taking pity on my American naivete) that such behavior was considered at best unnecessary, and at worst, rude.

And the reason you see "prix net service compris" on menus printed in French, is simply as a reminder to people who are acclimated to tipping (e.g. clueless Americans - and more precisely, those who can actually speak French) that it's neither necessary nor expected.

As I say, the Italians seem to be the exception, as they apparently have perfected the art of the upcharge: whether it's the ubiquitous coperto, or the tactic of presenting an item "on the house", with the expectation that you'll leave a gratuity for the waiter in return. In fact, outright bribery didn't seem to be all that unusual in some places as well, based on my experience.

My guess is, you seldom venture far from the relative security of your villa, otherwise, you'd be more aware of the fact that the rest of Europe doesn't operate in the same manner as Italy when it comes to tipping and gratuities.

OTOH, if your behavior over there is anything like what we see from you here, they're probably soaking you for every Lira they can just on principle.

People handling jet fuel should get better pay. That just seems obvious.

Let's pass a law paying them $50, no $100, per hour.

Whew, the underside of this bridge is PACKED with trolls tonight, isn't it?

Nothing like a post on working people struggling to make a better life (which raises standards for all of us) to bring out the mean-spirited spite, is there?

Where are you finding loaves of bread for $1.40?

@24 Folks in here who are understand economics are not trolls. There are good points being made here in contrast to Goldy's absurd wishful thinking.

@14: Getting a job, legally, in Europe generally requires making a decent case you aren't taking a job from a European ... at least for non-US companies. Good jobs going to a foreigner in a place with high unemployment is generally not a popular move.

They have enough trolls

Why would someone stay so long at a job that pays so low? 8 years is a long time to go without improving your employment situation.

@Comte

The Italians haven't used the Lira in years, though oddly the lira price of things is still put right beside the Euro price. I'm guessing it's to make the older ladies shopping able to understand what a half kilo of cheese really costs in terms they understand, but I don't actually know that.

But I'm glad you had a chance to visit Europe. I honestly wish every American would take 3 or 4 or 6 months to take a cursory look at some of the great cities and wonderful countryside there. I honestly wish they could see how others do things firsthand and assess impartially how we do them. Problem is a few days or weeks in a place, particularly in hotels, doesn't really tell you much about local conditions. Kind of why I tend to use Italy as a standard, since I've never lived in any of the other nations for an extended period. I know what meat and rent and train fare and taxes cost there, but not in England or Denmark. I know what the socialized medical system works like (through insurance we must purchase here prior to an extended visit which is honored in local hospitals) firsthand rather than by listening to Bawney Fwank or Rachel Mad-Cow.

The socialist paradise you folks see over there sits on very shaky economic foundations. Don't believe me? Look at Greece and Portugal and Spain and Italy. All thought that the magic of socialism would trump real world economics, and they were wrong. It's a bit like the dotcom bust we had. All those tech companies claimed the usual rules for investing and building companies didn't apply to their entirely new industry. And they were of course wrong, just as the socialists are wrong in denying basic human realities in their infantile economic theories.

I only hope my countrymen take the lesson to heart before we go too far down that particular economic dead-end. But I'm not optimistic about it, since idiots like Goldstein and actually influential folks in politics and journalism are so hell bent on taking us there.

@31:
>mfw blaming the problems of austerity on "socialism"
 

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@28,

What points? That workers should just shut the fuck up and accept what crumbs are thrown to them? How do you think worker rights were won in the first place?

These posts always bring out the erstwhile supporters of the status quo. Those assholes who are content to shit on anyone asking for decent pay for their work. Alaska Airlines likes to front as though it's a responsible corporate citizen and that it cares about its employees, and there's nothing wrong with calling out its lies and hypocrisy.

The Port also deliberately underpays many people who work for or contract with it, despite the Port drawing in taxpayer money because it's too incompetent to be self-sufficient. It deserves to be called on its shit as well.

@32

It isn't a problem of austerity. It's a fundamental truism that you can't forever spend more than you make, whether you're a private citizen or a government. Austerity is merely the response to the economic problems the socialist mindset that assumes that in fact you can so spend cause. It's basically the grownups coming into the nursery and trying to solve the problems unsupervised children created.

I hope you downloaded that image, which by the way is pretty impressive. I'd like to think your studies or friends or girlfriend are better uses of your time than creating it yourself.

@ 34

"It's basically the grownups coming into the nursery and trying to solve the problems unsupervised children created."

The unsupervised children were the capitalists, freed from the regulations which kept them from wrecking the economy. The grownups were trying to clean up the mess, but they needed the right tools, but using austerity to kickstart the economy is like using a feather to drive a nail. You don't have to look to Europe today to see this; the Hoover admin's response to the Great Depression prove that.

The right-wing mind's capacity for delusion in the face of facts is stunning.

@34: Don't worry, I didn't make it up. It's copypasta.

@23, You never lived in Europe and you just copy and pasted that shit from some travel blog. You are a world traveler, you're just a zero.

*not a world traveler*