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Los Angeles—Thanks to continuous efforts by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) to mobilize employees at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) against a proposed hike in parking fees, airport officials have delayed implementing the increase for four weeks.

Employee parking rates were originally scheduled to jump from $15 to $30 per month on Monday, but yesterday the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) announced it will delay the proposal until March 1 to better address employee concerns. Officials also decided to postpone another plan to close and consolidate other employee parking lots at the airport until March 1. NTEU has repeatedly argued that these moves will substantially impact Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees and many others.

“Hundreds of airport workers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the proposals to us,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “Airport officials made the right choice in listening to frontline employee concerns. I encourage them to take these plans off the table permanently.”

For nearly two months, NTEU has mounted a proactive campaign against LAWA’s proposal, including: building a coalition of airport employee groups to fight against the plan; meeting with LAWA’s top parking official; circulating a petition among airport workers protesting the increase; and sending a letter to the LAX Board of Commissioners seeking a roll back of the rate hike.

“With an entry-level salary of about $25,000 per year, TSA employees are among the lowest paid employees in the entire federal workforce,” President Kelley said, adding that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that TSA employees are paid about $1,700 less per year than their federal counterparts. “A doubling of parking fees will hit these frontline homeland security employees especially hard,” she said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments. NTEU TSA members at LAX are part of a growing NTEU network of thousands of members at more than 40 airports across the country.