evanderm

Check in agents were hinting that there would be issues today but as I was going through preclearance, though it was busy, I saw no signs of industrial action and things seemed to be normal. Don't know if that's the case any longer though.

Shareholder

Any class action lawyers in the room? Sue the union for past days of missed flights. Sign up here...

Simon

Part of the problem seems to be (and why huge fines have not been threatened/leveraged) is that it's a fiddly little union with no money.

Santander

CAWU is a very obscure union. YYZ (and possibly YTZ) is the only airport where the screeners are represented by such a small union, making this a bit of a unique situation. CAWU has very little power or experience, and also have little money to lose.

Increase in workload is very different from split shifts in a work environment such as YYZ. Of course increased workload has its limits as well but that's not what's being discussed right now.

nowinyow

Seems to me the Screeners are going after the wrong people. Maybe "controlled" call-in sick by the employees, "forcing" their colleagues to work OT. Sick one day, OT the next. Hit Garda in the money belt would be more effective than a labour disruption which I doubt Garda is loosing a cent over.

Santander

It'd still be understaffed though. Imagine if there wasn't enough staff to open the Nexus/Priority queue... But agree that there must be a better way to teach Garda a lesson.

guessaaa

Every time I go through security in Canada and US I always hear chatter between the screeners about when their next break is, or what time they're off. It's clear that they don't enjoy their job and would rather not be there. Meanwhile, screening in Poland is carried out by Polish Border Guards, which is a branch of the Polish military. They are always 20-35 year old men and women who are armed with pistols (like Police), take great care with their duties, and never do I hear them talk in a way that suggests that they don't enjoy their job.

Santander

I'm sure you've looked at the clock a few times before and wished it would move faster.

guessaaa

Not for jobs I enjoy. It's no secret that a happy worker is a more productive worker.

tyberius

Dude, did you just ask us to have sympathy for their feelings, based on how difficult it must be for them to torture us?

Yes, I weep for them, they surely must not be enjoying screwing over people who have nothing to do with their problem.

One of my clients is not paying his bills. Excuse me for a moment, I have to go punch some babies until he decides to pay me. Please understand how difficult this is for me, and I hope to have all of your support during this time of hardship. Let the punching commence!

tyberius

I was in the CAW and I was a Steelworker. I also went on to start my own company.

The thing is that when unions were started, and my grandfather was one of the originals back in the auto industry, these people had real issues. And the companies sent guys around with baseball bats to bust up their meetings. It was hardcore.

These incompetent overpaid fools who are running our security theatre which does little to nothing to actually protect us (why are all those Canadian border guards wearing flak jackets? Isn't this a bit of a mixed message about how safe airports are due to their safety procedures? Anyway, I digress), can be replaced by a reasonably educated 12 year old child or even I think a well trained dog.

Their job is on the surface supposed to be this serious, essential thing that we're being taxed to pay for and they're treating it like it's a game. If it is a game, fire them and put in the 12 year olds and the trained dogs. If it's not a game, then fire them all and put people in there who are not going to screw up the system so that it doesn't work.

They can't find squat that goes through there, they can't find liquids or knives in luggage, they are not *doing* anything useful except wasting time and money in this stupid useless "profession."

Wah wah wah I can't get my shifts based on seniority. So what, this is not something like the auto industry where if I dragged any of these security agents down to a factory and put them to work at a real job they would end the day crying. Seniority in these plants is so that the guy who has spent his life working his way up from the garbage horrible jobs at the bottom that are nevertheless essential can spend the latter part of his career working the better jobs. Because, he's earned it.

These people standing around and slowing me down from getting at my plane, stare at computer screens and take apart cameras and they never find anything because there's nothing there to find. And the real things get through whenever the terrorists want to get stuff through.

50% of their job is sliding plastic cartons down a track.

So, being on both sides of this one, I seriously do not get that what they are facing with their complaints is something to drag the primary air transport hub for a country to its knees... especially when the people they are affecting are not even involved in their dispute.

It takes someone with either a huge amount of bias or a hugely open mind and a lot of generosity of spirit to agree with what they are doing. I sure don't, and as mentioned, I come from union blood and am proud to have been in the CAW and the Steelworkers. Unions have their place in society and it's not for guys who press a button to move a conveyor forward while other people frisk grannies.

CloudsBelow

These are my feelings as well.
These poeple would be doing night shifts securing construction sites and new home builds if not for the gigs they've landed here. They are likely Grade 12 graduates who took some security course and are, of course, bilingual which elevates tham in the Cdn job hunt.
The world economy is teetering on a double-dip recession and these geniuses decids it's time to pull thier rank and disrupt the flying public to have our plight heard. Time to slow down the people actually out there keeping the economy going or people excited to see loved ones over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Good news is that is seems to be over . . . Have there been any poeple through YYZ today? Yesterday seemed quite smooth on the departure board

mapleg

I wonder about that Grade 12 part of it. The reality is that cashiers at discount stores act more professional than these agents.

rankourabu

We hand out high school diplomas like candy in Ontario.

Finishing grade 12 does not equal being literate in this province, and certainly does not equal having learned anything about being professional.

hearna

I Have 2 friends who work private security. They both seem to change jobs as often as I change underwear (and yes, daily). It seems to be a very disorganised buisness! I always thought these CATSA agents where in fact government employees. We pay the darn taxes for these agents, so perhalps it is time the government took over and stop out sourcing it to badly run companies. Food for thought!