Toronto to Layoff Airport Security

It seems like the hits just keep on coming for the workers employed by the city of Toronto as cuts to once stable civil service jobs begin to come from all sides of the fence. It seem like no position in the government is safe from the possibility of being cut from the budget. This time it is the workers employed by the Canadian government in a Toronto airport that are taking the hit. The airport, which is actually the largest in the nation, is getting ready to get rid of about 300 workers. The jobs to be cut will come from the security screening department, and will primarily affect junior level employees, for the time being.

The government, which has shown a decidedly conservative fiscal position, has already let go of 80 of these screening professionals. The Transport Minister, Denis Lebel, has already given notice to a sizeable screening contractor, Garda Security Solutions. They are expected to make job cuts of about  the 20 percent “temporary” labor cuts were due this week.

Representatives for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority are saying that the layoffs are a result of increased efficiency instead of on budgetary shortfalls. As one spokesperson, Mathieu Larocque, told a reporter for the Star, “We asked the [security] providers to propose new ways of doing screening, more efficient, screen more passengers per hour, better customer service, things like that.”

This is not the first cut to civil servants in Toronto in the recent past. For those of you who did not catch yesterday’s pieces about layoffs at Toronto Hydro here is an excerpt:

“The 1,000 members of the staff and contractors are facing the ax. The company was recently denied a 5 percent rate increase recently, so now they are looking to layoff in order to make ends meet and stay in the black.

The utility, which is owned by the city of Ontario, recently applied to the Ontario Energy Board for the increase, which would have allowed for a $500 million upgrade to the power infrastructure. The upgrade is needed because some parts of the setup are more than 50 years old. The older equipment is not as efficient as other options, and may be more susceptible to weather damage or other failures that could impact consumers.”
Another recent Toronto layoff from the beginning of December impacted hundred of workers. Here is a portion of our earlier coverage:

“Officials representing the city made an announcement on Wednesday that exactly 1,190 people will be out of a job if the city council makes the decision to go ahead with a budget plan that will cut out the 2,338 jobs identified for elimination in the 2012 city budget. If you’re wondering how those numbers jive exactly, don’t worry.

There is not a higher number of job losses, though a number of positions will have to go unfilled in order to make that number work. Roughly 1,148 vacant jobs that the city would normally hire for are being eliminated. These jobs will come from the police force and other municipal agencies.”
So, it looks like every worker in the city has something to fear.