Passenger assistance workers at Canada’s busiest airport warned its chief executive this summer that understaffing, poor pay and inadequate training was jeopardizing the help given to passengers in wheelchairs, the Star has learned. As previously highlighted by the Star, the contract to provide passenger assistance services at Pearson has changed hands four times since 2004. This spring, hundreds of wheelchair workers were forced to re-apply for their own jobs after a company called Toronto Ground Airport Services lost its exclusive contract with the airport after less than a year. The letter to Eng, understood to be from a “significant number” of non-unionized passenger assistance agents, said contract flipping had become a “vicious cycle” at Pearson and was undercutting customer service. “These workers truly need protection from contract flipping,” said Sean Smith of the Toronto Airport Workers’ Council.

Source: thestar September 23, 2016 09:00 UTC