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The email said, “Any employee who is responsible for encouraging and organizing a work stoppage will have their employment terminated.”
Publication date:
August 31, 2022 • 14 hours ago • 3 minutes read • 36 comments Vancouver International Airport (YVR) after a day of delays and long lines due to understaffing, in Richmond, BC ., on August 29, 2022. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
Content of the article
A “record” 143 passenger screening employees at Vancouver International Airport called in sick over the weekend, causing hours of delay for departing travelers, with their employer claiming many were not actually sick, according to a internal email sent to workers by a company manager.
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Content of the article
Those workers face discipline “up to and including dismissal” and any employee who staged a “work stoppage” would be fired, said the email sent to “all YVR control officers” by Mark Rogers, senior director of operations, YVR, for Allied Universal. Security Services, a US-based multi-billion dollar company that provides contract screening personnel to YVR and other BC airports
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Content of the article
The email obtained by Postmedia News, dated Aug. 28, had the subject line “high absenteeism.”
“Unfortunately today’s operations have seen 143 absences so far,” Rogers said. “This is a record day for absenteeism.”
It’s not known how many screening officers work at the airport, but the union that represents airport workers in Vancouver and Toronto said on its website it has 4,000 members.
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Union officials at YVR and Abbotsford Airport, where there were also delays caused by staff shortages, said Aug. 28 was the first day after an incentive program ended of summer
The Canadian Air Transport Safety Authority, or CATSA, program rewarded employees with perfect attendance from June 5 to Aug. 27 with bonuses that amounted to an extra $8 an hour, according to union officials .
CATSA is the federal Crown corporation that manages the screening service at Canadian airports. Hire private security companies like Allied Universal to provide employees. Workers are represented by unions and at YVR this union is the International Association of Mechanics and Aerospace Workers.
The summer incentive program “created an environment of members working long hours and back-to-back days, while dealing with higher-than-normal workloads and stress,” said Dave Flowers, IAMAW District 140 president. in an email.
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“Sometimes (screeners worked) even without constant breaks, working in very difficult working conditions,” he said. “It is our belief that this may have contributed to higher than normal absenteeism” on August 28. The union did not organize any industrial action, he said.
In his email to workers, Rogers said, “We believe a large percentage of their absenteeism is voluntary.”
He said Sunday staffing shortages caused by workers calling in sick closed some checkpoints, caused officers to miss breaks or be late and “our service levels were poor”.
The email included a warning: “Employees who intentionally absent themselves from work without justification do a disservice to their colleagues, our customer and the public and will be subject to discipline up to and including termination.”
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Content of the article
And, he said, “Any employee who is responsible for encouraging and organizing a work stoppage will be terminated.”
Rogers was not available for an interview. Requests for comment were referred to Allied Universal Vice President of Communications Sherita Coffelt in California.
“We experienced abnormally high absenteeism at YVR Airport on Sunday which contributed to increased wait times for the traveling public,” Coffelt said in an email Tuesday night.
“We are saddened by the impact this had on the passengers as well as the (work) team members.”
Operations returned to normal on Monday, he said.
“We have been assured that it is not a sanctioned union activity. We cannot speculate further on the cause. … I cannot comment on any personnel actions that are underway.”
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The three unions representing the thousands of control officers are in negotiations for new contracts, set to expire March 31, 2021, and wages are an issue, Al Bieksa, president of the United Steelworkers union that represents screening officers at Abbotsford Airport. .
If the federal government doesn’t raise the $22 an hour it pays screening officers across Canada, there will be a repeat of the long lines that slowed the screening process in Abbotsford and YVR over the weekend, he predicted.
Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra’s office said he would comment on the screening delays on Wednesday.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with comments from Allied Universal.
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