RICHMOND—Food service workers at Vancouver International Airport and their union protested against the airport authority Thursday in the face of an impending contract flip.

Ninety workers at YVR are at risk of losing their seniority, union contract and even their jobs in September because the airport authority has decided not to renew one of its contracts.

That means workers like Denise Yuile, a server who has worked at YVR’s White Spot restaurant for 18 years, may have to reapply to a new contractor to keep her job.

“Some people come in and they remember me from 18 years ago,” said Yuile, 51. “I love working at this airport. But now I’m worried about what will happen next. I’m getting older; it’s hard to think about starting over again at this age when I’d like to be thinking about retirement.”

A contract flip takes place when contracted employees unionize, only to have their contract ended and replaced by another, non-unionized company. Sometimes the other company hires back the same employees, who then no longer have union representation.

The provincial government is currently trying to end the practice in some sectors.

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The CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority has publicly stated he doesn’t believe the airport has the authority to step in and guarantee the 90 workers keep their jobs. The new service provider will grant interviews to the current workers but ultimately make their own decision on whom to hire.

“I don’t mean to be insulting at all. I love the workers. I eat at White Spot once a week,” Craig Richmond said at the authority’s annual public meeting May 9. “Under our existing agreements and contracts, we do not have the ability to do that.”

Legislation expected to be debated in B.C.’s legislature next week may change the equation. Amendments to the province’s Labour Code, introduced by Minister Harry Bains last month, aims to end contract flipping in some sectors by requiring new service contract providers to inherit an incumbent workforce.

The legislation would cover building cleaning, security, bus transport, food services and nonclinical health workers, effective retroactively to April 30. More sectors could be added later.

The union representing the 90 food service workers, Unite Here, wants the airport to follow what they call the “spirit of the law” and intervene before the provincial legislation passes.

But the airport says its hands are tied.

“We are aware that both the federal and provincial governments have proposed legislation to make changes to the labour code. If and when that legislation passes, YVR will ensure all contractors and concessionaires are in full compliance,” the airport authority wrote in a statement Thursday.

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B.C. labour leaders went to YVR on Thursday to support the protesting workers, including Jennifer Whiteside, secretary-business manager of the Hospital Employees Union. HEU members in private care homes have faced frequent contract flips over the last decade.

“The result of that is it drives down wages, it creates precarious work, it creates recruitment and retention crises,” Whiteside said. “And there is no question that the workers who are predominantly affected by this practice are women and racialized workers.”

President of the B.C. Federation of Labour Laird Cronk urged the board of the Vancouver Airport Authority to pay attention to the workers’ plight.

“You will never be a world-class facility until you treat your workers in a first-class way,” he said.

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