Well, heck, even without training, as potential weapons go, a stick is a pretty easy one to inflict some pain with, at least.

I actually am reasonably sure the gloves they use are not latex, for exactly the reason you cite -- completely aside from passengers with allergies, the latex sensitivity is common enough that the agents would require non-latex at least as an option. OSHA and all that. However, it was unreasonable for the agents not to be willing to make the effort to find out, and particularly sad given that it sounds like they were actually trying to be helpful right up until that point. They turned what could have been a public relations win into a total fail.