KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City’s traffic control officers are attempting to unionize with SEIU Local 1 after allegations that LAZ Parking failed to provide proper licenses to their traffic control officers. In response, the city of Kansas City has passed a resolution in support of the workers unionizing and the union is calling for an investigation into LAZ Parking’s compliance with state licensing requirements.
SEIU Local 1 has filed a complaint to the Private Officers Licensing Unit against LAZ Parking, a Connecticut-based national corporation under contract with Kansas City to provide traffic control services at the Kansas City International Airport. The complaint states that, under its city contract, LAZ Parking promised it had been issuing licenses to its employees since 2023 and agreed to “maintain all necessary permits and licenses while complying with applicable law.”
However, in a recent press release, the SEIU Local 1 said it had confirmed through correspondence with the Private Officers Licensing Unit that LAZ had no record of licensed traffic control officers registered with the unit, despite the union alleging that state law requires the workers to be licensed. Workers have also raised concerns about job safety and training as they seek to unionize at a time of increased airport traffic due to the FIFA World Cup.
The union is now calling on the Private Officers Licensing Unit, the Board of Police Commissioners, the Aviation Department, and Kansas City leaders to investigate LAZ’s compliance with licensing requirements and ensure that all traffic control officers at the airport are properly licensed, trained, and protected.
Why these licenses are important
The licenses are important to the officers because they give the traffic control officers the legal authority to control traffic and issue citations in the airport. However, without them, the officers may be at legal risk of violating not just state law but also city law under section 50-43 of the city’s municipal code regarding false impersonations, according to the SEIU. In short, workers are being put in a potentially dangerous position simply due to an apparent failure of their employer to fulfill its obligations.
RJ Nazelrod is a traffic control officer at the Kansas City International Airport. He said that he and his coworkers were never notified that they had to get licenses.
“We didn’t realize that we were supposed to have them for a while, we just recently found out that we were supposed to have those licenses,” Nazelrod said. “A lot of our coworkers don’t even know about it yet. We’re trying to spread the word on that right now and see what we can get done.”
Safety and training concerns
Apart from the lack of licenses, employees are also raising concerns about unsafe working conditions, combined with a lack of training.
Lauren Owens is a single mother of two and a traffic control officer at the Kansas City International Airport. She said she and her coworkers experience both a lack of security and training at the airport, and that due to the lack of security, some of her coworkers on the night shift have been physically assaulted.
“So we run the risk of getting hurt, and we don’t know how to deal with that situation because we haven’t been trained. I’ve been here since August 2024, that’s when I started at LAZ Parking. I was never trained how to de-escalate situations.”
She noted that because only supervisors are authorized to handle volatile encounters, frontline workers are often left vulnerable when help is delayed.
“The only person that was allowed to know how to deal with situations like that was the supervisor but there has been times where the supervisor is not available.”
Owens added that the lack of safety extends beyond encounters with customers.
“When I’m in the crosswalk, I’m directing cars. I’ve almost been hit several times. That whole time, I’ve been almost hit by people.“
The city stepping in
On June 11, the Kansas City Council passed a resolution expressing their support for the traffic control officers to unionize. The legislation passed having wide support, with Mayor Quinton Lucas and councilmembers Johnathan Duncan, Andrea Bough, Melissa Robinson, Ryana Parks-Shaw, Kevin O’Neil, Melissa Patterson Hazley, Eric Bunch, Darrel Curls, and Wes Rogers sponsoring it.
How unionization will help
The SEIU noted that they will work to give the employees proper training, licensing, and legal protections. The union also has a track record of giving its members increased time off and better pay.
Chris Rak is the SEIU Local 1 Vice President and Missouri Director. He stated that the union will fight hard to protect its members.
“Workers should not be placed in a position where they are asked to perform public-facing traffic control duties without the proper licensing, training, and legal protections required for the job,” Rak said.
Nazelrod said that he hoped the union would improve his job experience.
“Taking time off is weird and we’d like to get that better sorted out. There’s a lot of benefits that we can improve to, like getting an HSA and it’s really expensive”
Owens said that unionization was necessary in a job environment that was both unpredictable and unsafe.
“I wanted my right to be protected because my job is so physically and emotionally demanding, I feel as of recently, the LAZ Parking management doesn’t understand all that we go through and they keep on changing the policies and it could change it from a day to day basis and we can get in trouble for that.”
The Labor Beacon has reached out to LAZ Parking for comment and has not yet (3:15 PM Central on June 18th, 2026) received a response. This article will be updated when a response is received.
Patrick Sanders — an Independence native — is a student journalist from the University of Missouri-Columbia writing for the Labor Beacon. Before joining the Labor Beacon, he wrote for KBIA News, a Mid-Missouri NPR-affiliated news organization. Sanders's grandfather Bruce was a long-time member of the postal workers union, and his older cousin is currently in IBEW Local 124. In his free time, Sanders enjoys spending time with friends and family, reading, and weightlifting. He hopes to bring his knowledge of policy to benefit workers in the greater Kansas City area and give working people a fighting chance.
