Key facts
- Toronto Pearson is not the employer for most airport workers.
- More than 400 independent companies and organizations operate at Toronto Pearson, including airlines, ground handlers, retailers, food service providers and government agencies.
- Toronto Pearson does not participate in contract negotiations between independent employers and their workers and is a neutral party in labour disputes.
- Toronto Pearson’s role is to maintain safe and efficient airport operations, support passengers and minimize disruption to other operators while respecting workers’ legal rights.
Background
Contract negotiations between employers and workers are a routine part of life in a large and complex airport like Toronto Pearson, where more than 400 organizations operate. In most cases, they conclude without incident, but occasionally the two sides cannot reach agreement and a labour dispute develops.
Unless the workers involved are employed directly by Toronto Pearson, a labour dispute occurring at the airport is generally a dispute between an independent employer and its workforce, not a dispute involving Toronto Pearson itself.
In these cases, Toronto Pearson is a neutral party that works to minimize disruption to airport operations while respecting workers’ rights to strike and hold informational pickets.
What Toronto Pearson can and cannot do during a labour dispute
Toronto Pearson's primary responsibility during a labour disruption is to maintain safe and efficient airport operations.
Toronto Pearson can:
- Coordinate operational planning to minimize disruption to passengers and other operators.
- Share factual information with passengers about service disruptions on torontopearson.com and/or our X account (@torontopearson).
- Work with an affected airline to develop a plan to park grounded planes that minimizes disruption to other carriers.
- Allow safe informational picketing by workers on airport property.
- Coordinate the return to normal operations once a dispute ends.
Toronto Pearson cannot:
- Negotiate collective agreements on behalf of the 400+ independent employers at the airport. Set wages or employment conditions across the airport. Direct unions or employers to settle a dispute. Prevent lawful strike activity or informational picketing.
Common misconceptions
“Airport workers are employed by Toronto Pearson”
More than 52,000 people work at Toronto Pearson, but only about 2,000 of them are directly employed by the airport. Other workers are employed by the 400+ companies and organizations that operate at the airport, including airlines, ground handling companies, retail and food service providers, government agencies and cleaning contractors. Each of these negotiates contracts with its workforce separately, and Toronto Pearson is not a party to those talks.
“Toronto Pearson is negotiating with striking workers”
No, Toronto Pearson does not get involved in negotiations. When we become aware of a potential labour disruption, including strikes or pickets, we work with the employer and the union to understand the scope of the planned action so that we can plan accordingly.
Measures we take may include:
- Deploying additional Passenger Care personnel to assist passengers in our terminals.
- Sharing factual information about service disruptions on torontopearson.com and/or our X account (@torontopearson).
- In the case of disruptions involving an airline, developing a plan to park grounded planes in areas of the airport where they will not disrupt other flight operations.
- Working with labour unions and deploying additional staff to manage informational pickets on airport property.
- Working with the employer and union at the conclusion of the dispute to restart operations in an orderly fashion.
“Toronto Pearson workers are picketing”
During a labour dispute, unions may ask to hold informational pickets on airport property. While these workers may be based at the airport, they are not employed by Toronto Pearson. However, media coverage sometimes fails to make this distinction clear and incorrectly implies that the airport itself is involved in the dispute.
Toronto Pearson respects workers’ rights to hold lawful informational pickets and has procedures in place to manage them. In general, we work with the union to define an area where workers can picket that is visible to passengers but minimizes disruption to airport operations. In many cases, this is near – but not in front of – the terminal entrances. We deploy additional security and Passenger Care personnel to help manage the flow of traffic and passengers near the pickets.
“Toronto Pearson can end a strike”
Toronto Pearson does not have jurisdiction to set salaries, order anyone back to work or determine the employment terms of the 400+ independent operators across the airport. These are decisions for each employer and union in accordance with labour laws and market conditions.
Toronto Pearson’s role is to establish clear service expectations, evaluation criteria and responsible contracting practices that promote workforce stability among the many employers at the airport, while also promoting pathways for career progression across the airport ecosystem.