Screeners at Edmonton International Airport vote in favour of strike

Hundreds of screeners at the Edmonton International Airport could go on strike next month.

The screeners, who are employed by GardaWorld, voted 95 per cent in favour of rejecting the latest contract offer by the company and going on strike.

GardaWorld is the third-party contractor hired by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority for security screening at the airport.

“Right now to get any form of bonus at work, Garda employees, screeners are being asked to cancel their summer vacation plans, not take any sick days, even if they have COVID, even if they’re sick, and even miss any bereavement days that come up on their schedule,” said Catherine Cosgrove of Teamsters Canada, the union that represents the screeners.

Cosgrove says delays caused by airlines dealing with stressed out passengers is also hard on workers.

“Everyone is kind of at their wits end, not particularly happy, and our members are the ones who bear the brunt of it. So what they’re looking for are conditions that kind of make it worthwhile to do this type of work.”

There is a cooling off period in place until Aug. 13, but if a deal is not reached between the company and its employees by that date, they could walk off the job. It’s unknown at this point what that strike would look like.

“A legal strike cannot occur before an application regarding maintenance of services has been considered by the CIRB. No date has been scheduled for this hearing,” a spokesperson for CATSA said in a written statement.

“CATSA is following the negotiations closely and trusts that the two parties will continue to bargain in good faith.”

EIA says it can’t comment on third party negotiations.

“We are happy the two parties continue to meet and discuss and we hope they come to an agreement suitable for both sides,” said Steve Maybee of EIA in a written statement. “We value the services provided by these front line staff and understand the difficult environment we are all working in at this moment.” 

Cosgrove says the union will sit down with GardaWorld again on Friday.