FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – The Fort McMurray airport is contracting out its custodial work to save costs, meaning about two dozen employees will soon be out of a job.
Those workers belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which says it plans to picket the airport in protest.
CUPE Alberta president Marle Roberts says she hasn’t been able to get a straight answer about whether the positions will be filled by temporary foreign workers.
The contract to clean the airport’s newly opened terminal was awarded to Bill’s General Cleaning, which had already been servicing the old terminal.
Bill Asefa, who runs the company, says he employs both Canadians and temporary foreign workers, but that with so many locals out of jobs he doesn’t intend to recruit outside Canada.
Scott Clements, president and CEO of the Fort McMurray Airport Authority, says the downturn in oil prices has meant a 25 per cent decrease in workforce charter flights so keeping costs low is
critical.
Comments