It is very sad to hear of people's poor pay and conditions. The simple economics are:
Once upon a time when baggage and catering handling was in-house, due to the strength of the unions the staff had good terms and conditions. Perhaps due to the unions over-exerting their power, the company set out to break them and introduced multiple ground handlers.
While these new companies claimed to compete on quality, the airlines were mainly interested in price, so the handlers competed on price alone, and the best ways to cut costs so they can cut their prices are to reduce wages and to run old equipment.
With the EU Ground Handling Directive allowing unlimited handling companies on site, there are more and more sub-contractors with older and older equipment and lower and lower wages. Result: clutter on the apron and under-staffing.
At the same time, the local jobs market has picked up (Wythenshawe call centres, Trafford Centre etc) so there isn't the pool of unemployed people any more for employers to fish in.
Multiply this scenario across car parking, retail, cleaners, check-in staff, catering loading, security etc. and you get employee dissatisfaction, short-staffing, regular staff turnover (losing skills and experience), which leads to poor customer service and now a reduction in passenger numbers for the first time ever in MA's history barring the period after the Gulf War in 1991, and the year or so after 9/11.
The only organisation that makes any money out of Manchester Airport is MA PLC. Any profit the service providers make out of being at the airport goes back to MA in concession fees, extortionate rents, expensive staff car park permits etc.
MA is now talking about limiting the number of ground handlers at MA by running a license system. So now the handlers will have to pay even more to operate there.
My view is that MA should reduce its charges/rents/concession fees to allow service providers to pay a decent wage to retain their staff at least for the full season, and to treat them well. MA would still make a profit. Customer service would improve and passenger numbers might go up again. I know people have mooted this in the past to MA management but of course they know best, so they ignored the idea. Do they still know best? Well, with leftie pie-eating councillors at the top of the tree, the GCX and chairman are laughing because no-one above them is capable of understanding how bad they really are at running a competitive business in a global marketplace in the 21st century.