American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and other members of the Airlines For America (A4A) coalition are suing the Port of Seattle over the latter's plans to increase the minimum hourly wage for Seattle Tacoma International employees to USD11.22/hour in January and then to USD13/hour with effect from 2017.
According to Reuters, A4A claimed in its filing that the increase could cause "irreparable" harm to its membership which includes Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, UPS Airlines, FedEx Express, Hawaiian Airlines, and Alaska Airlines among others.
"The rules, unless restrained, will cause irreparable harm to Airlines for America's member air carriers," it said arguing that the wage hike approved by the Port of Seattle Commissioner violates US labour laws - the Railway Labor Act in particular.
The Port, however, disputes this claiming the commissioners acted within their authority when they passed the increases which, they said, were aimed at reducing employee turnover.
The electorate in the Seattle suburb of SeaTac - where the airport is based - last year voted to increase minimum wage in many sectors to USD15/hour. A court order, however, blocked the increase from applying to airport workers.
