A union representing airport screening workers in Alberta says some of its members showed up to work feeling sick to gain access to a summer attendance bonus program that is being investigated by a House of Commons committee.
“It’s rewarding to get around what you’re doing right,” said Richard Brown, president of Teamsters Canada Local Union 362.
“I’ve personally talked to people who thought they were sick and shouldn’t go to work or not stay, and they chose to show up and stay just to make sure they were eligible.”
Earlier this year — when air traffic picked up after plummeting in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic — screeners employed by the Canadian Aviation Security Authority (CATSA) were notified of the bonus program.
According to a memo sent by one company, screening officers will be paid $200 for each week they worked their full scheduled shifts. The program was due to run for 12 weeks from June 5 to this Saturday.
With additional incentives of $500, workers were told they could earn bonuses of up to $3,900.
A less “lucrative” version of the program was offered last Christmas, according to the memo.
Brown said the program forced workers to weigh their health against their wallets.
“It’s created an atmosphere, especially right now with inflation … and people struggling,” he said. “It’s a way to make extra money, so people have canceled their vacations and are coming in sick.”
Brown said the incentive was particularly disappointing as the union has been negotiating a new contract with GardaWorld since January and has been calling for pay increases.
“It’s extra income that should have been applied directly to wages, not as a bonus to be shown when you’re not quite right,” he said.
Brown said the incentive masks other problems with the vetting system, such as a shortage of job applicants, poor staff retention and poor working conditions.
Union official Richard Brown says the money used for the incentive program should have gone directly to workers’ wages. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)
CBC News reached out to CATSA for comment and statistics on program uptake, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Dave Flowers is president of District 140 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents thousands of inspectors in Ontario and British Columbia. He said the bonus program also convinced some of his members to call in sick.
“We hope this will not lead to disease outbreaks or mistakes being made in an industry where mistakes cannot be made at the expense of the flying public,” Flowers said via email.
“There’s $200 on the line”
A CATSA official defended the bonus program when questioned last week by NDP MP Taylor Bachrach, the party’s transportation critic.
Bachrach and other members of the House of Commons standing committee on transport, infrastructure and communities met to discuss the controversial ArriveCAN screening app and staffing issues and flight delays at airports over the summer.
At the end of the meeting, Bachrach addressed CATSA’s incentive program. The committee heard that CATSA, a publicly funded Crown corporation, allows contractors to bill CATSA for program costs.
“Don’t you see how this puts the workers in a very difficult situation? Because you basically wake up with a sore throat and you’re making a decision about whether to go to work and there’s $200 on the line. Isn’t that an incentive to go to work sick?” Bachrach asked Neil Parry, vice president of CATSA.
Parry said that while workers who call in sick and stay home cannot participate in the incentive program for this week, they are eligible for the following weeks in which they are eligible for the program and remain eligible for their full base compensation, including paid sick leave.
“We don’t see it as an incentive to go to work sick,” he said. “This is an outlier for this benefit, so they are out of pocket in any capacity.
“The incentive program is an additional bonus structure that they can take advantage of when it’s the best opportunity for them.”
WATCH / CATSA official defends bonus program amid criticism
A CATSA official defends the bonus program from criticism
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach, the party’s transport critic, questions Neil Parry, vice-president of operations at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), about a bonus program for inspection contract employees during a parliamentary committee hearing on August 19, 2022.
Parry added that CATSA trusted workers to “act professionally” if they were unwell.
“They’ve demonstrated for more than two years during the pandemic that they’re going to stay home, they’re going to be responsible,” Parry said. “When they’ve planned a vacation, we encourage them to take it because … it’s an extremely busy environment and they’ve done a noble job under that pressure.”
The program is effective, Parry added.
“Our absenteeism across the country is down over the summer,” he said.
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