TUPE does not necessarily assure a job. Economies of scale may mean the new company (lets call it company X) only needs (& I'm pulling figures out of the air here!) 30 out of the 60 staff that get transferred from company Y. As they all now work for company X they will review and elect to get rid of 30 staff that are not required. Now all staff - existing employees of X as well as the staff from Y could be in the "at risk" category.
Ultimately in the current world it may be that T's & C's will have to change. The company may not be able to revise the airline contracts until they next come up for renewal & the additional labour costs could make it unviable to continue with the status quo.
Interesting to consider how airports might deal with a scenario where no handling agent can actually make a profit out of a particular operation......
