Good afternoon. My name is Jerry Dias and I'm Unifor's national president.
With 310,000 members, Unifor is Canada's largest union of the private sector. We represent 12,000 members in the federally regulated aviation industry. I'm pleased to be here today on behalf of those members to discuss aviation safety.
Our submission provides advice in three broad areas: personnel issues, enforcement and monitoring of legislation, and infrastructure operations. Given the time limitations today, I'll focus my remarks on airport infrastructure operations and the monitoring and enforcement of legislation.
Our members working at airports are increasingly facing low wages and insecure work. This is a well-documented phenomenon that is increasingly receiving attention from the press.
What is perhaps less well documented or understood is the connection between precarious employment, workplace safety, and airport security. In 2003, researchers at the Institute for Industrial Relations at U.C. Berkeley found that improving the quality of employment for the lowest-paid and most insecure workers at the San Francisco International Airport significantly reduced turnover and improved job performance dramatically. Ultimately this led to fewer security breaches and an increased safety record. Instead of being under constant stress and strain to work more hours to make ends meet, workers at the airport had more training, higher pay, and as a result greater ability to focus on the job at hand and do it well.
Today, as employment quality in Canada's airports continues to erode, our air transportation system faces increased potential for safety breaches and workplace accidents. Much like the San Francisco airport case, the decrease in employment quality has led to high turnover. In some cases, it is so high that new employees are being trained by co-workers with less than one year of tenure on the job. Experience and expertise are being lost. Many workers who stay are holding multiple jobs and working extended shifts to make ends meet.
One of the main practices leading to this situation is the overreliance of airport authorities on the RFP process, or contract flipping. This practice has been employed as a tactic to intensify competition and keep costs down. But this heightened intensity is forcing contractors to compete based on how low they can pay their employees instead of how well they can perform the work. It has increased the vulnerability of the aviation industry to accidents and security breaches.
Unifor recommends four specific measures government can implement immediately. They include, one, limiting the number of companies permitted to conduct ground handling services; two, lifting employment quality at airports by introducing a $15 an hour minimum wage, paid sick days, full-time and permanent employment, and fair scheduling; and three, granting workers successorship rights in subcontracting and contract tendering at airports.
My second focus today is on air traffic controller inspectors. Air traffic controller inspectors oversee and license air traffic controllers. They also oversee all Canadian air traffic control regulation standards and procedures. Obviously the work has a direct impact on the safety of the aviation industry. Currently the number of ATC inspectors is dangerously low. Turnover is high, and staff retention is proving problematic. Increased workload and stress are just one indication that ATC inspectors are overburdened and under-resourced.
Unifor recommends additional resources for training and professional development, and hiring additional inspectors with appropriate qualifications. Canada needs a strong regulatory system supported by meaningful inspection and robust enforcement to ensure the safety and security of aviation workers—