About 80 workers who service airplanes at Halifax Stanfield International Airport were locked out at noontime yesterday.
Ken Russell, general chair of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents Servisair’s unionized employees, told Metro Halifax the employees were locked out because they refused a two-year wage freeze.
The two sides have been without a contract since last June, with negotiations on-going since November.
“These people are the lowest paid in their profession anywhere,” Russell said. “These are $9 and $10 an hour people.”
The locked-out employees work on the ramps and offer passenger service for company’s like WestJet, CanJet, Sunwing and Air Transat.
Russell said company managers have been brought in from across Canada to act as the replacement workers.
