Article content continued

A statement issued by the Teamsters last week claimed the temporary workers only receive three to four days of training, rather than the three to four weeks afforded to their union counterparts.

“We don’t think Swissport can basically do their jobs with workers that have no experience and poor training,” Monette said, adding that the temp workers themselves aren’t to blame.

“It’s not their fault. They’re being placed in an impossible situation,” he said.

Swissport said that its workers all receive a minimum of 10 days of classroom training, as well as on-the-job instruction.

The union also claims that Swissport hired the 250 workers as a way of putting leverage on workers during the current round of contract talks.

“We’re concerned that Swissport is willing to sacrifice airport safety to gain an upper hand at the bargaining table,” Harjinder Badial, vice-president of Teamsters Local 419, said in a statement issued last week.

Swissport responded that it hired the temporary workers to help handle the summer travel rush, which it said it is allowed to do under the collective agreement.

“We are confident that protocols are being followed,” Pierre Payette, Swissport Canada’s vice-president of operation, said in a statement.

The Teamsters have filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board over the matter.

Among its claims are that there hasn’t been a significant change in their members’ workload and that Swissport gave the union a day’s warning before it began hiring the 250 temporary workers.