Dozens of workers contracted by Avis Budget at the Twin Cities airport recently walked off the job after many of their first paychecks from a new employer allegedly equated to less than a living wage, The Pioneer Press reports.

Managers of the Avis and Budget car rental agencies contacted Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police to respond to a "civil disagreement by some employees about their paycheck," according to airport spokesman Pat Hogan.

Police found about 45 men and women outside a maintenance and storage area, away from the main terminal. The employees left without incident shortly after police arrived.

In one case, an employee’s two-week paycheck totaled $111 for what he said was 80 hours of work driving rental cars back and forth from the storage area to airport terminals and other sites.

The paycheck was the first one issued by Atlanta-based Stryden Staffing Services, which contracts for Avis and Budget. Stryden had just taken over for the previous staffing service, Greenville, N.C.-based GCA Services Group, which typically paid drivers a starting wage of $7 an hour, drivers said.

A person who answered the phone at Stryden in Atlanta said he had just been made aware of the problem and was attempting to find out what had happened. He said he could not officially comment.

According to The Pioneer Press, an Avis manager at the airport also declined to comment, referring calls to the company's New Jersey headquarters. A call there was not immediately returned.