Nonrevs Beware...Baggage Strike in YYZ this Thursday...

Ground crew for 45 airlines at Pearson International Airport could be walking a picket line Thursday, potentially delaying flights.
Airlines that would be affected include Canjet, Air Transat, Air France, British Airways and KLM Royal Dutch.

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.

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 issued by the Teamsters last week claimed the temporary workers only receive three to four days of training, rather than the three to four weeks afforded to 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 leverage 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 that it hired the temporary workers to help handle the summer travel rush, which it said it is allowed to do under the collective agreement.
"We are confident that protocols are being followed," Pierre Payette, Swissport Canada's vice-president of operation, said in a statement.

The Teamsters have filed aformal complaint with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board over the matter.