Sorry, what are SOP's and what is a CBA? Sorry for my ignorance, I am not familiar with those terms. Is the airport administration not doing anything to address issues such as lunch room spaces and missing breaks? Those seem like issues they can address. I can imagine working at an airport is a very stressful career for many positions there. I cannot imagine being an employee at an airport during this time and having to deal with stressed out, anxious and angry passengers and not having the solutions.
Yes, I can imagine how bad it will be this summer as travel increases in numbers. I would hope those making the big bucks in the government and the airport administration across the country are coming up with solutions and action plans now.
I see it has been answered, but yes, SOP's are the standard operating procedures, like how we have to do a pat down, who we have to swab, etc...It changes all the time and is not consistent, making it incredibly difficult to keep track of.
The CBA is a collective bargaining agreement. When the last one ended in 2017, it took two years going back and forth and then to arbitration before we got another one, and our raise was $0.45!!!
But then that one ended in 2020 and we are still fighting again with them.
As security is contracted out to an american company, the airport administration has no say in anything. We did get a new lunch room at C gate and there is an old tiny one at E gate, but there's no lunch room at A & B or International so we have to walk to either C or E to have our lunch, taking up our break time, and we are lucky if we can find an available seat.
Often times we can have 3-4 between breaks, and if it's go go go, we get exhausted with no time to rest in between.
Our shifts are constantly changing as well, This year alone I went from 10-6 then 12-8 then 1130-730 and back to 10-6. That makes it very difficult for anyone who has a family, or really, any life outside of work.
Passengers can be grumpy on occasion, but they are not the ones making the environment stressful.
Check out this news report with an interview from a former co-worker of mine:
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/former-vancouver-airport-screener-says-she-quit-over-poor-working-conditions-low-pay-1.5887503#:~:text=Frustration, missed flights at Vancouver airport&text=A former security screening employee who worked at Vancouver International,working conditions and low pay.
