They’re the low-wage workers helping Pearson’s most vulnerable passengers.

But now, hundreds face losing their job as the airport’s wheelchair handling contract is set to flip for the fourth time in a decade, the Star has learned.

According to an internal memo obtained by the Star, Toronto Ground Airport Services will lose its passenger assistance contract with the airport authority in February 2016 — despite having provided the service for less than a year.

That means up to 375 TGAS employees, who will only just have qualified to receive medical benefits with the company, will find themselves out of work and forced to reapply with whoever takes over.

“This is the fourth time that (workers have) had to start over,” said Lou Pagrach, general chairperson with union IAMAW, which represents passenger assistance workers.

“It’s not a nice feeling. These aren’t high-paid employees. These people make $12 an hour. It’s people that are scraping by,” he added.

TGAS took over the wheelchair handling contract from Swissport in May — the third time the service had changed hands since 2004.

Although almost 300 employees had to reapply to work with TGAS, Pagrach said most were taken back on and even got a slight raise. But their benefit entitlements did not carry over, and will only kick in as of Nov. 1 — just three months before they could be forced to look for work all over again.

“They thought they were going to be able to get their medical benefits … they thought they were going to be able to have some stability in their lives and it’s going to be thrown upside-down again,” said Pagrach.

The Star has previously highlighted the damaging effects of contract flipping on workers’ wages and benefits, as well as on public safety. Critics say the practice, which involves sub-contracting out services and changing providers every few years, is a way to shed employees, cut pay and keep entitlements low.

But the latest flip is unusual in that TGAS held the contract for less than a year before being turfed by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. In an emailed statement, the GTAA said only that TGAS’s services would come to an end in 2016, but that “airlines will continue to comply with their accessibility obligations and the GTAA’s safety and service level standards for our passengers.” The Star was unable to reach TGAS for comment.

“(Workers) actually got a raise when they went to this employer, this employer is actually good,” said Pagrach. “We’re not mad at the employer, it’s the GTAA that’s the bad person.”

It’s unclear what will happen to the service once TGAS is removed from its role. According to the memo obtained by the Star, as of Feb. 1, “all Airlines will have the opportunity to provide their own wheelchair handling service for passengers requesting special service assistance.”

But Pagrach said his union had already met with the GTAA to advise against the flip, or to at least delay it.

“It just means even more contractors arriving at the airport undercutting the work,” said Sean Smith of the Toronto Airport Workers' Council.

“There’s no control. There’s absolutely no control going on here anymore,”

Timeline of recent contract flips at Pearson

2004: GTAA launches passenger assistance program in Terminals 1 & 3 for all airlines except Air Canada. Contract awarded to Servisair.

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2007: Contract is re-tendered, and this time awarded to Toronto Ground Airport Services.

2012: Servisair, now bought out by Swissport, takes over the contract again. It implements a two-year wage freeze, according to union Unifor.

May 2015: Toronto Ground Airport Services replaces Swissport as passenger assistance provider.

September 2015: The GTAA rules TGAS will lose the contract in February 2016.