Striking Pearson ground crew vote against new offer
Posted Aug 24, 2017 05:06:49 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Striking ground crew workers at Canada’s busiest airport have voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest offer from their employer and will continue a four-week-long work stoppage.
A spokesman for Teamsters Union Local 419 says the workers employed by Swissport vote 98 per cent to reject a new contract after turning down an offer by a 95 per cent margin in late July.
About 700 cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, and other ground crew workers employed by Swissport at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport have been on strike since late July.
Swissport services 30 airlines at the airport, including Air Transat, Sunwing Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Air France, KLM and Lufthansa. Air Canada and WestJet are not serviced by Swissport.
The ground crew strike has not significantly affected passengers, although the airport has been warning travellers that the labour disruption could affect some flights.
Terms of the latest offer were not released but the company had said it was optimistic the workers would accept the deal.
Their concerns have included pay and benefits cuts, scheduling issues, and what their union calls a lack of respect from Swissport managers.
