Nice timing, Securiguard
It’s just over a week after jihadi jerks in Britain forced airline passengers around the world to endure the strictest security protocols ever. Meanwhile, what are security guards at Vancouver International Airport up to? Why, contemplating going on strike, of course.
The security guard’s union voted 98 per cent in favor of strike action to get better working conditions, according to one CBC News report. It could effectively shut down the airport.
One could argue that the union had already been looking at strike action long before the latest terrorist plot was foiled, and that labor contracts shouldn’t be negotiated according to the unpredictable rise and fall of the threat level.
But the optics and timing on this don’t look good.
Unless the better working conditions they’re asking for will directly improve security at the airport rather than just give a morale boost to the workers, they might hold off on action that could at the very least diminish security levels when the threat looms large.
Are you an idiot? Haven’t you heard of the term bargoning power? Maybe this is why Canadians can never negotiate a deal with the US without getting screwed: too stupid, wimpy and naive to use the power they have.
Yeah, how bout a little support for those doing a job to make air travel safer. And why no critcism of their employer Securiguard? The Security staff have been trying to negotiate a deal since March 2006. How long should they “hold off action”?
I’m in favor of unions and workers using what bargaining (notice the spelling) power they have, given that in most situations, the employer holds the cards.
But when such a negotiating tactic endangers public safety, that isn’t cool. It’s pretty much the same as the cops walking off the job during an epidemic of kidnappings or firefighters going on strike during peak forest-fire season.
Before Securiguard took over 2 years ago, the working conditions weren’t an issue. I guess the company before them knew what they were doing…and they were NON-UNION.