Repeatedly crowding crosswalk is strike strategy for airport workers

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This article was published 29/08/2017 (2972 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Over a month after beginning their picket against the Winnipeg Airports Authority, striking members of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees are still demonstrating, although in recent weeks the picketing has moved to more public locations.

For nearly two weeks, the striking workers — who have been without a contract since June 30, 2016 — have set up at the intersection of Century Street and Wellington Avenue, a few blocks away from the airport.

When the crosswalk sign lights up, roughly 20 picketers make their way from one side of Wellington to the other. When the hand pops up telling pedestrians to stop crossing, the picketers immediately retreat to the sidewalk.

Most of the time, workers say, they have been greeted by honks of support and thumbs up from drivers.

Other times, it’s been a different finger extended skyward.

“A lot of people are unfortunately giving us the middle finger,” said strike captain Jessica Klym. “We’re just following the crosswalk and making ourselves visible.”

A few drivers have even turned into the pedestrian walkway and lightly bumped picketers. Nothing too serious, according to some workers.

Since July 24, when negotiations overseen by a federally appointed mediator broke down, about 150 airport employees including duty managers, administrative workers and various tradespeople have been off the job.

Marianne Hladun, the regional executive vice president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said the main issues the strike hoped to resolve were wage discrepancies, pension plan changes and the contracting out of work to non-union employees. All along, the airports authority has denied contracting out any more work than what is allowed under the now-expired collective agreement.

An offer made by the authority before the strike began “failed to address almost all of those issues”, according to an official union statement from late July.

When the strike started, both the authority and the union claimed the other side was the one to abandon negotiations and walk away from mediation.

Hladun has maintained that those claims are untrue.

Both Hladun and representatives of the airports authority say they are prepared to return to the negotiating table, but talks have essentially been at a standstill for weeks.

In mid-August, both sides came back together for their first conversation since the strike started, moderated by the federal mediator.

Tyler MacAfee, the authority’s director of corporate communications and corporate affairs, called those talks positive.

“Bigger picture, we want to do everything we can to have our employees return to work.” MacAfee told the Free Press on Aug. 20. “Having said that, we cannot agree to a deal that limits our ability to grow and develop the airport for the benefit of the community.

“Our mandate is to be fiscally prudent, and we need to find a deal that allows for that while keeping our employees well compensated as they always have been,” MacAfee continued.

But some striking workers say the airports authority has been unwilling to make progress in talks.

“At this point, we’re waiting for the employer to respond,” Hladun said Tuesday. “We’ve said before we are ready to come to the table.”

Until the talks get back on track, the strike will go on, Klym said. And they aren’t breaking any rules by demonstrating on the corner of Wellington and Century, MacAfee says.

“These sites are city property, so (the airports authority) doesn’t really have a say one way or the other,” MacAfee said Tuesday.

Last month, the authority was granted an injunction preventing strikers from picketing on airport property, around employees’ homes and around the businesses of firms contracted by the authority. As long as the picketers don’t violate that injunction, and as long as they follow guidelines set out since the strike’s opening day, the airport authority says they’re allowed to continue on the street corners.

One sign erected by the union read “Late for your flight? Complain to 987-9798”– the airport’s operations centre. An airport operations specialist wouldn’t say whether any calls were made because of the sign.

MacAfee said he’s unaware of anyone missing a flight due to demonstrations.

“My son’s gonna miss his flight!” a woman named Candace yelled before turning on to Wellington around 4 p.m. Tuesday, about an hour before the departure to Vancouver.

“We’ll probably make it unless there are more delays,” her son said.

There wouldn’t be any, assured a nearby picketer.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca