{"id":762082,"date":"2026-04-29T20:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/762082\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:05:21","slug":"concessions-workers-at-houstons-bush-airport-secure-hourly-wage-increase-through-labor-union-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/762082\/","title":{"rendered":"Concessions workers at Houston\u2019s Bush Airport secure hourly wage increase through labor union \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OV6A8090.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-509388 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/OV6A8090.jpg\" alt=\"airport&#10;\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2000\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unionized concessions workers at Houston\u2019s George Bush Intercontinental Airport ratified a new contract Tuesday, securing a minimum hourly wage increase to $20, according to their labor union.<\/p>\n<p>The contract between UNITE HERE Local 23 members and OTG  \u2014 an airport employee contractor \u2014 was ratified by 99% of workers, according to the union. UNITE HERE Local 23 said workers with more than one year on the job will now earn $20 per hour, which will increase to $21 per hour in October. Workers will also pay less for family healthcare, receive a paid holiday for Juneteenth and &#8220;many more benefits protecting workplace rights,&#8221; the union said in a Wednesday news release.<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/hellohouston\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>UNITE HERE is a hospitality workers union that represents 3,000 workers in Houston and over 28,000 nationwide in states such as Georgia, Mississippi, Indiana, Denver, New Orleans, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Virginia. <\/p>\n<p>Kia Howard, a cashier at the airport, said in a news release from the union that the contract will drastically increase her hourly pay. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am excited and proud of what we have accomplished in this contract,&#8221; Howard said. &#8220;I will go from $14.50 an hour to $20 an hour now. &#8230; This is life-changing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/news\/business\/2025\/12\/28\/539584\/houston-labor-union-workers-strike-unite-here-local\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Unionized hospitality workers in Houston saw \u2018historic\u2019 wins in 2025. More could see gains in 2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a Houston City Council meeting Wednesday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire congratulated the workers on their new contract and said it was modeled after the contract that UNITE HERE workers at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/news\/business\/2025\/10\/10\/533145\/striking-hilton-americas-houston-workers-negotiate-agreement-to-immediately-raise-minimum-wage-to-20\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hilton Americas-Houston secured last year following a 40-day strike<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a great example of what can be accomplished when workers and employers sit down together in an atmosphere of respect and resolve their issues,&#8221; Whitmire said in a separate statement on social media. &#8220;The food service and retail workers at IAH are ambassadors of our city.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>OTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the new contract.<\/p>\n<p> UNITE HERE Local 23, which also represents workers at the Marriott Marquis, said in a statement it has made \u201cgood progress\u201d in negotiations with the downtown Houston hotel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unionized concessions workers at Houston\u2019s George Bush Intercontinental Airport ratified a new contract Tuesday, securing a minimum hourly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":762083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[17390,64,103954,4345,17617,11238,425,50,313241,358,3187,290325,133690],"class_list":["post-762082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-airports","tag-business","tag-george-bush-intercontinental-airport","tag-houston","tag-houston-mayor-john-whitmire","tag-labor-union","tag-local","tag-news","tag-otg-management","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-union-workers","tag-unite-here-local-23"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116489796251095858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}