Union workers protest Port Kansas City over wage, training dispute
More than 100 union workers gathered across the street from Kansas City’s City Hall for a protest against the Kansas City Port Authority on Wednesday.
“Hey, hey, ho, ho, John Stephens gotta go,” the crowd cheered, referring to the president and CEO of Port KC. Protesters were out as early as 9 a.m. Wednesday.
On flyers handed out by union representatives, workers are demanded Port KC implements Missouri prevailing wage standards on all Port KC projects to ensure all workers are paid fairly.
The issue stems from an August 2025 agreement between Port KC and the Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council, which decided that Port KC would implement fair wages and apprentice requirements on all Port KC projects, according to the council. In a statement released Feb. 11, the council said that this agreement would ensure that all apprentices on the projects would be enrolled in a Registered Apprenticeship Program and for them to be supervised by “experience journeymen.”
The council said that Port KC has not upheld its part of the agreement, which has now led to union workers coming together in an attempt to hold Port KC accountable.
The Port Authority of Kansas City did not immediately respond for a request to comment on the protest or the allegations of workplace violations.
The Construction Union wants Port KC to keep its promise, while also putting an emphasis on protecting local workers. Ralph Oropeza, the trade council’s business manager, said the lack of wage and apprenticeship standards is “watering down” the area’s guidelines, especially when workers from other states are allegedly coming to Kansas City and not going through the same process as the local workers.
“This isn’t a union versus non-union thing. This is local workforce,” Oropeza told The Star. “Why are we not putting our kids to work here in Kansas City, so they have a good career ahead of them? One of the best ways to stop crime is to give people careers. Building trades gives really good careers.”
The GKC Building Trades Council said that they represent 17 construction trades within the Kansas City area. The council also alleges that Port KC has diverted millions in Kansas City tax dollars “meant for local school districts” through tax abatements, saying it undermines communities.
Brian Schaaf, an organizer for IBEW local 124, said that the goal now is for the message to make it to KC Port’s Feb. 23 meeting. The agenda of that meeting will be released the day prior. If there’s no movement then, “We’ll kind of advance and escalate from there,” according to Schaaf.
“We get a lot of out of town contractors that are coming in and doing that work. It puts us at a competitive disadvantage, workers in the Kansas City area,” Schaaf said. “That’s the main goal, is to try and get some sort of typical prevailing wage language on projects that get developed through the KC Port.”
In a statement to The Star, Stephens said that they are working on two resolutions that would benefit the labor, workforce and quality jobs in Kansas City. He said the resolutions will address the concerns about wages, project labor agreements, workforce and apprenticeship programs.
“We worked collaboratively for months with GKCBCTC and many other workforce organizations to arrive at these policies. I have recommended that these policies be approved by the Port KC Board of Commissioners,” Stephens said in a statement.
As for the allegations about the severe violations, Stephens said that Port KC took immediate action whenever GKCBCTC brought up workforce-related concerns, the port took immediate action and did multiple on-site visits.
“Those site visits, while helpful, were not sufficient to confirm the existence of the abuses currently being alleged. This does not mean, however, that Port KC considers the matter closed. If anyone, whether affiliated with the Trades Council or otherwise, has reason to believe that a developer might be engaging in improper activities on any Port KC project, we invite them to share that information,” Stephens said in the statement.
The protest comes days after the Port Authority of Kansas City voted to cut ties with Platform Ventures, after documents showed that Platform Ventures was intending to sell a warehouse to the federal government for an ICE detention facility.
Stephens statement also said that the staff will recommend that the resolutions be voted on in the Feb. 23 meeting. The policies were originally asked to be held for a future vote during the Feb. 9 meeting.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 5:34 PM.
