The Winnipeg Airport Authority confirmed Friday that layoffs are coming to the James A. Richardson International Airport.
Tyler MacAfee of the WAA said the layoffs come due to the “significant reduction in passenger traffic at the airport” due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“This is obviously not the result we wanted, as these are our co-workers and friends,” he said.
The airport union, U.C.T.E. Local 50600, and the WAA both agreed to develop an Memorandum of Understanding, said MacAfee, in the hopes of minimizing the number of layoffs.
That being said, about 25 per cent of staff will be laid off, both union and non-union, he added.
“This is achieved through vacancy management, temporary layoffs and eliminating some positions,” said MacAfee.
“Non-union employees have also taken a salary reduction ranging from 10 to 25 percent to minimize the number of total reductions.”
Normal traffic in the airport is usually 12,500 passengers daily. Some days, that has dropped to 100, he said.
“Airports in Canada are funded by a user-pay model, and the dramatic drop in traffic, reaching over 98 percent at times, has forced us to make these difficult changes.”
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