DENVER (KDVR) — A strike vote could be held as soon as Friday by the security officers union at Denver International Airport.
One security officer told FOX31 that employees who have worked for years are making, in some cases, just a couple of dollars more per hour than when they started.
“We are part of the first responders in this airport,” said one security guard, who asked not to be named.
He said their demands are going unheard by their employer, Healthcare and High-risk Security Services, or HSS for short.
“We’ve been asking for a raise, and no one is listening,” the security officer said.
The issues with working for this company, the security officer said, have cost them, employees. They currently stand at about 180, down by more than half from numbers past.
Some employees who started at $17 per hour, he said, are only making a couple dollars more per hour — even years later.
“People working at McDonald’s, they’re making $20 an hour. People working as (a) dishwasher in Concourse B, they make $20 an hour,” the security officer said.
They are so short-staffed, the security officer said, that there aren’t enough officers to cover all the ground at the airport.
“Some of them say, ‘Oh, we don’t have the staff, we can’t do nothing about it, just close it down,” the security officer said.
FOX31 got in touch with HSS, but they did not immediately provide a statement as of Friday night.
“Most people are working 16 hours at five days a week. You got to imagine: How are they working 16 hours? You’re killing yourself,” the security officer said.
A union rep for the Law Enforcement and Security Officers Union told FOX31 they have a negotiation meeting with their employer on Oct. 14.
The union representative said a majority vote to strike would be a bargaining chip ahead of that meeting.