The question is, what kind of person do we want working the ramp, and considering what that is, what other job and pay alternatives do the people we want have on Long Island?

And I'm talking the requirements beyond those on delta.com, which by the way, doesn't show any openings in JFK.
---
From a 2007 USA Today article about working the front lines for an airline:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ine-jobs_N.htm

"It's a very gratifying position to have," says Sharon Rattery, 63, of Manhattan. Rattery, a former travel agency owner, commutes an hour each way to her $10-an-hour job at Delta Air Lines at New York John F. Kennedy. Delta hired her in April, and she's now part of a new team of "red coat" agents tasked primarily with helping high-end customers.

Aaron Ham, 32, of Philadelphia, in June joined US Airways as a ramp agent — which involves loading and unloading bags on aircraft — after hearing about the job from two friends who work there. He'd attended trade school to learn automotive mechanic skills but spent most of his working life as a cook and a Goodyear tire salesman. Today, he's making more money than at the tire shop and sees more room for advancement.

"I plan on being here for the long haul," Ham says.

The downsides don't bother Ham. He usually works 24 hours of overtime each week to augment his $10-an-hour pay. He says he has the time because he's single without kids. He also has difficulty getting the weekends off.
>>
•Hiring bonuses. In a move that's controversial with longtime employees, Northwest has advertised on employment websites bonuses of up to $3,500 for $9-an-hour, part-time baggage-handler jobs at airports such as Boston and Minneapolis-St. Paul. It also has advertised $1,500 bonuses for the jobs in Seattle and Washington, D.C. During a July call with Wall Street analysts, CEO Doug Steenland downplayed the bonuses as a sign of hiring problems.

"In some markets where the demand for employees is higher, we've from time to time had to post some incentives," Steenland said. A Northwest spokesman declined to discuss the bonuses.

The bonuses are angering loyal employees who sacrificed pay during Northwest's Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which ended in June, says Stephen Gordon, district president of the union that represents the largest union at the airline, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Their current wage of $9 an hour is down 22% from the $11 paid in 2003, he says. A $9-an-hour worker who collects the maximum $3,500 bonus would collect an hourly wage close to $11 an hour in the first year, he says.

"These concessions were to be used for successful restructuring," Gordon says. "Surely, they were not intended to be subsidizing an inadequate wage."