Chicago airport workers getting raise, right to join union

CHICAGO (AP) - Thousands of workers at Chicago's two major airports are getting a raise.

On Wednesday, the City Council voted in favor of an ordinance that sets a minimum wage of $$13.45 an hour for the workers at O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport - or $2.45 more than the city's minimum wage.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the ordinance unanimously approved by the council also includes a provision to allow baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, security guards, aircraft maintenance workers and other contract employees the right to join a union without any interference. In exchange, contract employees would be prohibited from striking, picketing, engaging in work stoppages, boycotts "or other economic interference."

The ordinance proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel means the workers will earn no less than $13.45 beginning next July.