Denver City Council and Mayor Briefing on Airport Janitorial Contract Agreement - December 3, 2024
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Denver City Council and Mayor Briefing on Airport Janitorial Contract Agreement - December 3, 2024
On December 3, 2024, the Denver City Council and Mayor held a morning briefing to receive an update on the collective bargaining agreement between Flagship Inc., the airport's primary janitorial contractor, and the SEIU Local 105 union. The agreement, which was ratified over the Thanksgiving holiday, was highlighted as a successful resolution that ensures continuity of service and significant wage increases for workers. The briefing also covered plans to unbundle the janitorial contract into smaller pieces to increase accessibility for small businesses.
Discussion Items
- Airport Janitorial Collective Bargaining Agreement Update: Dave (airport team) and Sarah Marquez, Senior Vice President of Airport Operations, presented the key terms of the three-year agreement (starting March 2025). Wage increases are structured as follows: Year 1: $1/hour increase (4.8%), Year 2: $2/hour increase (9.1%), Year 3: $2/hour increase (8.3%). Health and welfare benefits remain with the employer. The agreement binds future contractors, even after Flagship's contract expires in February 2026.
- Council Questions and Clarifications:
- Councilman Cashworth asked about the starting salary range; the team committed to providing the specific rates later, noting the contract follows prevailing wage and breaks down by position (C1 vs C2).
- Councilwoman Alvidres queried the percentage increases, confirmed the wage progression from approximately $20 to $25 per hour, and asked about transportation reimbursement. The team noted that the CBA includes a reimbursement program for parking or an EcoPass.
- Councilwoman Torres inquired about the breakdown of Flagship's coverage (main terminal and all three concourses) and the plan to unbundle the contract. The airport intends to release four separate contracts in the first quarter of 2025: two larger (terminal and concourses) and two smaller scopes. Torres expressed concern about worker difficulties if multiple contracts create fragmentation, referencing past feedback.
- Council President Proteil asked whether smaller contractors would bargain collectively; the team confirmed that Flagship negotiated on behalf of all subcontractors in this agreement.
- The Mayor provided an explanatory note on unbundling: breaking large contracts into smaller pieces allows local small businesses to bid for portions, though it may create coordination challenges for workers.
- MWBE Program: Councilwoman Alvidres commended the airport's use of minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), and the team noted that the current contract includes a joint venture with an MWBE company and several MWBE subcontractors.
Key Outcomes
- The collective bargaining agreement between Flagship and SEIU Local 105 has been ratified and signed, effective for three years starting March 2025.
- The airport will proceed with unbundling the janitorial contract into four separate contracts, expected to be issued in Q1 2025.
- Future contractors will be bound by the terms of the ratified CBA, ensuring wage and benefit continuity for workers.
- No formal votes were taken by the Council during the briefing; the update was informational.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to this meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. At this weekly session, city agencies brief the mayor and council members on various proposals and projects across the city. This meeting of the mayor and city council members begins now. Still not used to not having actual microphones in front of us. Distinguished gentleman from District 6, would you like to start? Whoa, thank you very much, Mayor Moderator. Paul Cash from South Denver District 6. Good morning. Uh Jamie Torres, West Denver District Three. Lucky District 7. Good morning, Amanda Sandoval, North West Denver District. Great, good to see you all. Thank you so much for being here. We will have we will start with uh announcements. If there are any announcements that members have for uh the listening public at home or for any of the fellow members that are here, I will open it up. No, I think they have a meeting. All right, look at that. Our announcement is uh we were delighted to have a fantastic home win last night. Um excellent. Well, we are um excited to we did have one update that I think a number of council members had asked us for information about. Uh we uh have our team from uh the airport here to update on the janitorial contract, which was being negotiated, and I think reached a very positive resolution over the Thanksgiving holiday. We know a number of places around the country were not able to successfully meet resolution, and so uh thank you all for all the hard uh earned progress there. I'll give it over to Dave and Sarah to walk through a little bit about um a briefing on this contract negotiations. Good morning, Mayor. Good morning, council members. Uh nice to see you. Uh as the mayor said, uh, we are here today to update you on the collective pargaining agreement negotiations between Flagship Inc., which is really uh it's the company that does most of our janitorial out at the airport, uh, and the SEIU local one oh five. Um, although we were not party to that agreement, you know, and it severely affected us if if that didn't go well, so we monitored that pretty carefully. Uh Sarah Marquez is our senior vice president of airport operations. That contract falls uh under her purview, and she is going to update you this morning. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for having me. Um, as Dave stated, uh, I just want to reemphasize that we're incredibly happy how uh the process worked out and incredibly happy that both entities came to a great agreement. Um, some highlights on that agreement that I wanted to give you are uh it's a three-year agreement. It actually begins in March of twenty twenty five. It runs for three years. And for the for the high level of that three years, there's actually a wage increase each year. So year one, uh effective a $1 increase that's 4.8%. Year two is a $2 increase, which will be a 9.1% increase, and year three, which will be another $2 increase, and that is 8.3%. The health and welfare uh benefits will uh remain with the employer. And um what this means for Den is really that we're happy that continuity of service is happening and that both uh came to a great agreement. Um there's uh great wage increase for for those workers as as well as um just some uh uh great steps to set the next contracts up for success. Any questions? Yes, Councilman Cashworth. Um thank you for for the update. So what what's that make starting? What's the salary range for the janitors on the that contract? Um, you know, I didn't come prepared to talk about uh what that number would be, but I can take that uh and get back to you on what we'll do before we'll break it out by C1 versus C2. Each position will be a little bit different. This is all signed, sealed, and deliberate at this point.
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