Toronto, ON- The Canadian Air Transport Security Agency (CATSA) will push Canada’s airport security past the breaking point if it makes further cuts to passenger screening funding says the Machinists Union. It places the safety of the Canadian air travelling public on the line!
Over many years, the members of our union who work as airport security screeners have been a key element in maintaining the safety of the Canadian air transport system. They are among more than 7,000 screeners employed in this industry.
“In the spring of 2011, CATSA cut screener hours by up to 22 per cent despite an increase in air passenger traffic,” said IAMAW Canadian General Vice President Dave Ritchie. The funding cuts resulted in 500 employees losing their jobs and 300 more were moved from full-time to part-time hours. “These radical service reductions substantially reduced the accuracy of frontline screening placing our national security at risk. The stress levels of frontline screeners increased yet there were no cuts in the CATSA head office.”
CATSA is about to impose further radical reductions in frontline screening budgets and hours. When these cuts are made it, will increase worker stress and have a negative impact on the careers of skilled and committed security workers. “How do you justify this action when the only cuts in the CATSA budget were to frontline workers? It does not make sense.”
“The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers insist this can’t continue,” declared Ritchie. “Further budget cuts for frontline security are simply unacceptable and unfair.”
“We call on the federal government to ensure that CATSA bureaucracy is not allowed to erode the safety of our air transport system through further cuts to airport screening budgets and frontline security staff,” he said.