Roughly 100 protesters turned up at Trudeau Airport on Sunday morning to support 93 workers threatened with losing their jobs if they don’t agree to a major salary rollback.
Josee Dubois, president of the Union of White Collar Airport Workers of Montreal, said the employer is threatening to use outsourcing to replace the 93 front desk clerks, administrative agents and security officers if they don’t allow for one-third salary reduction.
“Passenger traffic continues to increase and profits too,” she said. “There is no financial problem here.”
The union, which is affiliated with the Quebec branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said airport expansion projects are coming at the expense of workers.
“For us, it’s savings on the backs of employees who earn between $17 and $28 an hour,” said PSAC-Quebec Regional Vice-President Yvon Barriere. “It’s not astronomical sums.”
Barriere pointed to the $2.5 billion expansion to Trudeau Airport that’s planned to start next year.
“Just to manage the new outsourcing, we’re talking about $500,000 in administrative costs,” he said.
In a statement, officials said the airport administration has not violated the collective agreement, adding that no decisions had been made and no job losses would occur during the holiday season.
Barriere said that if the jobs are eliminated, the airport administration will also lose in the end.
“The quality of service will definitely diminish,” he said, adding that some of the threatened employees have been working at Trudeau Airport for 25 years.
