Joseph Person of the South Side of Chicago put it bluntly when he said, “It’s put a real hurt in my income.”
Until recently, the 42-year-old father of five daughters did not mind making $3.09 an hour because his tips averaged about $100 a day. He said two weeks of his salary was equal to the tips he earned in two days of skycap services at O’Hare International Airport.
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Now, he’s lucky if he leaves work with $20 in his pocket.
But Person is still hopeful.
The good news is that since the terrorist attacks, Person’s employer, International Total Services, increased his and other skycaps’ salaries to $6 an hour, presumably to make up for the decrease in tips, Person said. The federal minimum wage has been at $5.15 an hour since 1997.
On Tuesday, Person was busy fighting boredom. Since curbside check-in has been eliminated, his job now is to maintain a “presence” outside the terminal for TWA, he said, while taking baggage to the ticket counters and assisting passengers in wheelchairs.