Airport workers who need to be tipped.

[pnwmom]

I knew the people checking baggage out front need to be tipped per bag. And I also assumed that the person pushing my mother's wheel chair (when she travels alone) should be tipped, too -- and quite well. So I always reminded my mother to have cash with her to pay the people who were helping her. But I guess not everyone realizes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/23/airport-workers-tips_n_1082307.html

Every day she goes to work at O'Hare International Airport, Elda Burke faces the same dilemma.

Burke, 30, works as a passenger attendant at the airport, escorting the elderly and disabled to and from their gates by wheelchair. Even though the airlines describe this as a free service, Burke's employer has her working partly for tips, which is why her base pay is a low $6.50 an hour, somewhat like a restaurant server's, rather than the typical Illinois minimum wage of $8.25.

But unlike diners at a restaurant, many of the passengers Burke will be escorting on their holiday travels this week won't realize she's working for tips -- and by federal law, she won't be allowed to tell them.

"We cannot say anything," Burke says. "If we do that, they can fire us."

[ClassWarrior]

1. They don't need to be tipped. They need to be paid like human beings.

NGU.

[Capitalocracy]

3. Agreed. But to the point in the OP...

I had NO IDEA anyone at the airport was supposed to be tipped. Not that I travel much, but still...

[pnwmom]

10. When you check in a bag outside you have to pay a fee per bag.

I was assuming that was a tip, since you don't have to pay that inside.

[former9thward]

23. The fee outside goes to the airlines not the workers.

It is a fee so you can get rid of your luggage before you get inside. The workers get none of that.

[geckosfeet]

4. That too.

[pnwmom]

9. They need to be tipped or they'll be making less than minimum wage.

When their pay structure is fixed, then we can stop tipping. Until then, it should be viewed as part of the cost of flying.

[ClassWarrior]

15. They need to be unionized or they'll be constantly begging to reach minimum wage.

NGU.

[Capitalocracy]

18. Theoretically, if it works like with restaurants...

they're supposed to keep track of and declare their tips, and if the total doesn't add up to minimum wage, they have the right to demand the difference from the employer.

Guess how often that happens in real life, though.

[bluestateguy]

2. And I'll be happy to do that when the airlines cut ticket fares and get rid of the bag fees

Everything from parking to food to the tickets costs a fortune at airports.

The airlines need to pay these people better. I'm sure they can find the money with the exorbitant prices they charge for everything.

[pnwmom]

12. I hope you're not using a service provided by people who rely on tips.

Yes, the airlines should pay these people a living wage, but they don't.

[lpbk2713]

5. WTF?? ... Federal law?

That MUST have happened on BushCo's watch.

[NYC_SKP]

6. I happily pay them more than usual, and not expecting the airlines to do it first...

Two dollars per bag for sky caps, 20% for waitstaff in restaurants, $5 for valets on the rare occasion that I use them.

It's the way it is, my stiffing them isn't going to change the system.

:patriot:

[pnwmom]

13. Exactly. Your stiffing them won't change the system.

It will just penalize the struggling employee.

[Obamanaut]

7. More responses here ->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2371589

[Romulox]

8. I had no idea. Recommend. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. No, we need living wages and unions.

[pnwmom]

14. Until then, we need to be aware that tipping is considered

part of their pay, just as it is with wait staff at restaurants.

People who don't tip out of principle are hurting the struggling workers, not the system.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. I tip, but that is a cop out

[northoftheborder]

16. I agree all persons need to be paid a living wage.

In the meantime, how are we supposed to know what wages those who serve us make?? I would never have guessed the people inside the airport were supposed to be tipped. There may be others I have unknowingly stiffed. I tip all persons in salons, my newspaper deliverer, taxis and airport shuttles, any baggage handlers outside, moving van workers, house cleaners at Christmas, (unless they work for a large company) waiters, tip jars at food counters. When I lived in the north, you were expected to tip grocery baggers, but here in the south, no one does. I don't tip plumbers, carpenters, electricians, etc.. I do tip once a year my yard mower. How out of whack are my tipping practices????

I know we are supposed to tip hotel staff, but I often forget.

[pnwmom]

20. It sounds like you're covering all the tipping bases.

I've wondered about baggers at the supermarket lately -- the person who offers to go out to the car with you. Back east, everyone tipped them. But when I moved here and asked at my supermarket, they said no -- they have an no tips policy. But that was a long time ago. This makes me think I should check again.

[Xithras]

19. Outside of restaurants and pizza delivery drivers, I rarely tip.

Luckily, I live in a progressive state where restaurants and other businesses are prohibited from paying ANY employees rates below the state minimum. From waiters to airport workers, nobody in California relies on tips to make minimum wage. So-called "tip-wages" are illegal here. They should be illegal EVERYWHERE.

I'll keep this in mind when I travel though. I didn't realize that tip-wages are used outside of foodservice. Thanks for the heads-up.

[pnwmom]

21. Housekeepers in hotels and motels are another group that relies on tips.

That's interesting to know about California!

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. I didn't know. thanks for this thread.