I have a bit of sympathy for the handlers, who for many years have had their prices screwed down by the airlines. This is partly due to too many handlers chasing each available contract. When I started in the industry more than 35 years ago, nearly all the handlers were airline owned. In the 90s, nearly all airlines sold off their handling operations to specialists, and this resulted in the driving down of Ts and Cs and prices. Margins for nearly all contracts were wafer thin. I am surprised the major handlers have survived even a couple of weeks of this shutdown.
I remember going to a meeting with the then BAA in the mid 90s, when they were proposing to have just 1 handler for each of the then 4 terminals. This got overridden by competition rules, and consequently the market opened up to everyone, with an oversupply of handlers.
I can foresee the handlers being allowed to fail, and ground handling being provided by the airport owners until such time as things get back to something like normal.