Possible strike looming at Toronto’s Pearson

TORONTO — Ground crew for 30 airlines at Pearson International Airport could be walking a picket line Thursday, potentially delaying flights.

The union representing 700 Swissport workers at Pearson filed a 72-hour strike notice on Monday and will ask its members to shoot down the company’s final offer. “We are suggesting that our members reject this offer,” said Christopher Monette, a spokesman for Teamsters Local 419.

If this happens, the workers — including baggage and cargo handlers and cabin cleaners — will be able to walk off the job on Thursday night.

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority said Tuesday it has an contingency plan in place in the event of a strike or labour disruption by the Swissport workers, who service 30 of the 74 airlines using the airport.

Monette didn’t give specifics on why the union wants its members to reject Swissport’s final offer, because the union hadn’t yet presented it to its membership. But the Teamsters recently raised issues with the company’s decision to hire 250 temporary workers last May.

A statement by the Teamsters last week claimed the temporary workers receive three to four days of training, rather than the three to four weeks afforded their union counterparts.

“We don’t think Swissport can basically do their jobs with workers that have no experience and poor training,” Monette said, adding that the temp workers themselves aren’t to blame.

“It’s not their fault. They’re being placed in an impossible situation,” he said.

Swissport said that its workers all receive a minimum of 10 days of classroom training, as well as on-the-job instruction.

The union also claims that Swissport hired the 250 workers as a way of putting pressure on workers during the current round of contract talks.

“We’re concerned that Swissport is willing to sacrifice airport safety to gain an upper hand at the bargaining table,” Harjinder Badial, vice-president of Teamsters Local 419, said in a statement issued last week.

Swissport responded it hired the temporary workers to help handle the summer travel rush, which it said it is allowed to do under the collective agreement.

The Teamsters have filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board over the matter. Among its claims are there hasn’t been a significant change in members’ workload and Swissport only gave the union a day’s warning.