A government proposal to increase the privatization of airports in Canada threatens to make travel more expensive and ‘a bad idea,” says the union for 18,500 flight attendants across the country.

CUPE’s Airline Division is pushing back against the Liberal government’s proposal, with Airline Division President Wesley Lesosky stating, “Privatizing airports will put good union jobs at risk and increase costs for travellers at the very moment our jobs and services are being threatened by President Trump’s mindless aggression against Canada.”

CUPE says it agrees other unions in the airline sector who are opposing the “wrongheaded scheme to let private investors profit off of essential infrastructure.”

The union says evidence from other jurisdictions shows that increasing privatization of airport infrastructure leads to higher costs for the public, such as airport improvement fees, parking fees, increased landing charges, and fees for dropping off passengers.

Privatization also puts downward pressure on wages and working conditions for workers in the air transportation industry, it adds, as investors “will always seek to cut labour costs and lower cleanliness and health and safety standards in order to increase profitability.”

“We don’t need the federal government finding new methods of profiteering in our airports, we need them stepping up to invest in making our airports safer and more efficient,” said Lesosky.

The Liberals floated the possibility of privatizing airports in 2018, but the idea was shelved due to union pressure and public opposition. “The government needs to stop bringing this bad idea back from the dead,” said Lesosky.

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