In what President Steven Parent of Local 2873 of RI Council 94 AFSCME calls a first in the union’s history, all but one of the 106 members voting have rejected a three-year Rhode Island Airport Corporation contract offer of 3% raises for each of the next three years.

State workers recently settled a contract giving them a 12% pay increase over three years (5%, 4% and 3%). Parent said while the 113 dues paying members of the local would like to get more money, “there is not a lot of trust in RIAC.” He said members were especially wary of language enabling RIAC to change job descriptions and stripping them of the ability to contest those changes.1

“He would like to order anyone at any given time,” Parent said of Iftikhar Ahmad, RIAC president and CEO. He noted that Ahmad came to Rhode Island from the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans more than six years ago and that unions don’t have the same hold in the South as they do here.

Parent speculated Ahmad’s effort to enhance control over union members stemmed from a series of anonymous letters sent this summer to the news media, the airlines and other airports saying RIAC employees would walk off their jobs on Aug. 13 effectively closing Rhode Island TF Green International Airport unless RIAC removed Ahmad. The letters cited the firing or resignation of more than 40 top level and key employees during Ahmad’s tenure.

RIAC defended its selection of Ahmad, pointing to the increase in airlines serving Green and destinations. Aug. 13 came and went without an interruption of operations at Green. Parent said Ahmad questioned him more than once prior to Aug. 13 indicating he was prepared to bring in independent contractors to replace those walking off their jobs.

Parent said the union is not allowed to strike.

Soon after Aug. 13, Ahmad relocated most of the union employees from the third floor terminal executive offices to the second floor. The move, which Parent believes was an effort to plug possible information leaks, required more than moving desks of the financial department that made up the majority of relocated employees. He said the move demanded extensive rewiring and the acquisition of office cubicles.

Parent also pointed to the inability of the field maintenance crew to keep up with runway painting because of aging equipment and lack of personnel.  He said RIAC has gone to an outside vendor to get the job done.

“I get the feeling he [Ahmad] is trying to replace union members by hiring contractors,” Parent said.

Parent said he is hopeful the parties will return to the negotiating table in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, union employees are continuing to work under the terms of the contract that expired in June.

As of press time Wednesday, RIAC had not responded to questions about the contract or for comment.