Yesterday evening (February 15), after talks between the union and management broke down around 8 p.m., hundreds of baggage handlers walked off the job at Toronto and Montreal airports.
Nearly 400 employees of Handlex – the company that handles baggage loading and unloading for clients such as Air Transat, Air France, British Airways and Swissair – are now on strike.
Picket lines could cause significant delays at Toronto’s Pearson and Montreal’s Trudeau and Mirabel airports, although the company has stated that "a contingency plan was implemented" and flights should continue to operate normally.
"Among the principal points of contention between the two parties are salaries, as well as night- and split-shift bonuses," explained the Teamsters union representing the workers. "History would seem to be repeating itself because the parties were in disagreement about the same aspects of the collective agreement during the last round of negotiations a year ago."