Bag-Dropping Workers Face Dismissal

Air Canada says it will fire two baggage handlers caught on video dropping carry-on items from the top of a stairway into a bin 20 feet below last week. Passenger Dwayne Stewart shot the video last Thursday at Toronto's Pearson International Airport as he and his incredulous seatmate watched through the window. The flight was full and some passengers had been required to gate-check their carry-on luggage because the bins were full. Rather than carry the bags down a flight of stairs to the baggage cart, the two workers set up a relay with the ramp worker at the gate level tossing the bags into a bin where the second worker transferred them to the cart. Stewart told CBC News he and his seatmate at first didn't believe what they were seeing.

"We were pretty shocked to see it happening. We actually laughed initially. We didn't think it was real," Stewart said. The baggage handler on the ground was not entirely without empathy for the fate of the contents of the freefalling bags. After several bags had tumbled onto those that had fallen before, the worker put a bunched up tarp in the bin to cushion the fall of the remaining bags. It probably won't be enough to save his job, however. Stewart, who was on his way home in British Columbia via Vancouver on the flight, posted the video, which has more than 500,000 views on YouTube. He said "embarrassed" Air Canada officials have contacted him saying their actions don't reflect the attitudes of the airline's other 27,000 employees. Air Canada issued a statement on Saturday confirming it is now in the process of identifying the workers so they can be given their walking papers.