Denver’s employment displacement protection for service contract workers will be extended to workers at the Denver International Airport after the City Council unanimously approved the proposal Monday.

Under the protection, if a contract that provides essential city services ends, the successor contractor must offer the existing contract workers right of first refusal. This ensures that front-line, essential workers remain employed during a transition period if outsourcing or a change in contractor occurs.

Monday’s ordinance expanded the protection to approximately 18,000 more people working for Denver’s city buildings and cultural centers, 80% of whom work at the airport.

“These protections are common sense. They help to make sure we keep security protocols high and that our city runs efficiently,” said Councilwoman Robin Kniech, who sponsored the ordinance. “It’s our city’s commitment that the important benefits of the airport need to flow to everyone.”

The original protections were established in 2009 for childcare workers, janitors, custodians, window cleaners, parking lot attendants and security guards. With this ordinance, the list now includes airport workers in lounge services, airline catering, baggage handling, cleaning and passenger assistance.

United Airlines outsourcing Denver-based jobs

This comes after United Airlines said last month it was moving forward with plans to outsource its catering operations, including at DIA.

Rose Medina works in the United Airlines catering kitchen in the airport. During a council committee meeting, she said without the protection, she and 500 of her coworkers would be at risk of losing their jobs in the fall after United Airlines’ change.

“It’s not fair that right now there are hundreds and hundreds of workers in the airport who are scared about whether we will have a job in a few weeks,” Medina said. “This year, Delta changed its catering contract in Detroit and hundreds of workers lost their jobs … will I get to stay?”

Wallace Vance, a wheelchair attendant at the airport, expressed similar anxiety about his job. Vance said he is a single parent of two young boys and this is the first job he has been able to get since he beat cancer.

“When I was diagnosed with cancer, I lost everything,” Vance said. “Being that this is my first job back in the workforce, not having that stability there is terrifying. … Most of the people I know, literally one paycheck is all it takes to lose everything you have.”

Report: DIA passenger traffic up 55% from 2020

In addition to providing job security, Kniech said retaining existing contract workers is the most efficient and inexpensive option for the city, due to additional training costs for new employees and time spent on training, screening and security protocols, especially for airport workers.

Departing contractors will have 60 days to notify workers they may be hired by the successor and provide the successor with a list of employee information.

The successor must hire workers at least 20 days in advance and in order of seniority. If the successor needs fewer workers than the departing contractor, not all workers may be hired.

If a contractor violates the ordinance, workers can make a complaint to the administering agency or file private cause of action, which would result in fines of $50 per day. Kniech said the city has only received one violation complaint in 12 years under the current protection.

At least 25 cities and counties in the U.S. already have similar worker retention laws: California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Washington D.C.