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Air Canada union serves strike notice
June 11, 2011 - 10:33am
move along..
The Canadian Auto Workers union has issued strike notice against Air Canada, clearing the way for a walkout by 3,800 sales and service agents next week.
The CAW opposes management’s proposal to place new hires on defined-contribution pensions, which don’t provide a guaranteed level of payout upon retirement.
“We are determined to reach a fair and equitable collective agreement that will reflect the contributions our members have made to bring Air Canada back to prosperity,” CAW Local 2002 president Jamie Ross said in a statement late Friday night.
But Air Canada argues that its existing defined-benefit plans are in jeopardy because of the heavy burden of pension funding.
The Montreal-based airline recently resumed making regular payments to its pension plans, after a 21-month moratorium on past service contributions expired at the end of 2010....
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/air-canada-union-serves-strike-notice-employees-could-walk-monday-night/article2056969/
Thanks for this, epaulo13.
This comes in the wake of the massive rejection by Air Canada pilots of the horrendous package their union brought back - including selling out future hires for some "big bucks" for current employees. The whole experience caused the union to essentially implode [this item is from May 16]:
Air Canada pilots seek new talks after rejecting cost-cutting contract
That last sentence "pilots voiced concerns" is the understatement of the decade.
..to be a fly on the wall at those meetings! i can almost see the governments attention begining to turn towards caw & cupw.
The CAW has issued its 72-hour strike notice to Air Canada, setting the stage for a possible work stoppage commencing Monday night at 11:59 p.m., should the two sides not come to an agreement.
After 10 weeks of negotiations, there are still a number of important issues halting progress at the bargaining table, such as demands for dramatic cuts to the pension plan that could result in pensions being reduced by 40 per cent for existing members, a plan which members pay into. The company is also demanding a lesser, secondary pension plan for new hires, according to the CAW.
Air Canada is also demanding a number of other economic concessions, including a reduction in benefits for current members and retirees, as well as an increase to their part-time workforce, which already occupies approximately 35 per cent of jobs.
"We are determined to reach a fair and equitable collective agreement that will reflect the contributions our members have made to bring Air Canada back to prosperity - our members haven't forgotten how much they gave up to make that happen and they expect to be treated fairly," said CAW Local 2002 President Jamie Ross, representing the company's 3,800 customer service, reservations and ticketing agents. "This is a struggle for good jobs at Air Canada and good jobs elsewhere."
The CAW has prepared an information leaflet for passengers in the case of a strike. To read the leaflet, please visit: http://www.caw.ca/en/10360.htm
Negotiations are ongoing and will continue right up until the deadline
http://www.caw.ca/en/10361.htm
More than 1,000 CAW members and supporters demonstrated outside Toronto's Pearson International Airport on June 9, calling on Air Canada to end its demands to eliminate the current pension plan and back off on a number of other economic concessions.
The colourful and boisterous rally first began at the arrivals level of Terminal 1 of the airport and then moved outside to the entrance to the departures level.
A number of guest speakers addressed the cheering crowd made up of uniformed Air Canada members (including CUPE and IAMAW members), members of the bargaining committee, CAW members from local unions across Canada and community supporters.
Quote: Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan brought support from workers across the province. John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, said that the fight at Air Canada was similar to many others, where the corporation seeks to destroy good jobs for the wealth of a few. Canadian Labour Congress Executive Vice President Marie Clarke Walker also brought greetings and support more than 3.2 million working women and men who belong to the CLC.
http://www.caw.ca/en/10357.htm
CBC just reported that Air Canada wants to cut pension plans in order to keep their highly paid CEOs - I'm not making this up!
holy crap - they aren't even hiding their corporate greed - lets see if the conbots think that is super good!
Air Canada is vowing to press ahead with its full flight schedule as a strike looms this week.
The country’s largest carrier is recommending that passengers obtain boarding passes online, show up early at the airport on Tuesday and avoid checking in bags at the counter, if possible, to help cope with long lineups.
Quote:
A strike will take effect at 11:59 p.m. on Monday unless management drops proposals to revamp pension plans, said the Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents about 3,200 airport customer-service agents and 600 call-centre staff. Some of the phone calls to Air Canada customer-service lines will be rerouted to call centres in Florida and Europe under the airline’s contingency plans.
Air Canada is seeking to gut defined-benefit pensions for existing employees while proposing to place new hires on defined-contribution plans, which don’t provide a guaranteed level of payout upon retirement, said CAW national representative Jo-Ann Hannah.
New retirees will suffer, said Ms. Hannah, who estimates that a CAW member, aged 55 with 30 years of service, would see the monthly defined-benefit pension payout drop from a current entitlement of $2,360 to $1,130 a month, or a 52-per-cent cut....
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/air-canada-advises-fly...
Air Canada bargaining and the fight for middle class jobs
By Jim Stanford
| June 13, 2011
CAW members at Air Canada are coming down to the wire in their bargaining with the company, with a strike deadline set for this Monday at midnight. It's really the first "normal" round of bargaining the workers have been able to undertake since 2000. Since then, they've been through two rounds of CCAA court-supervised restructuring bargaining, one arbitrated wage settlement in 2006 (since a condition of CCAA exit was no strikes for 6 years), and an emergency contract extension in 2009 (when the global financial crisis threatened to put Air Canada right back into CCAA). Over that decade, the workers have lost 10% of their real wage, several non-wage benefits (including considerable paid time off), and watched their pension fund become precariously underfunded due to repeated contribution holidays negotiated to address Air Canada's cash flow challenges....
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/progressive-economics-forum/2011/06/air-canada-bargaining-and-fight-middle-class-jobs
..at the start up of this thread i attempted to place it under labour and consumption but for some reason that option wasn't available. it would be appreciated if someone could move it there.
Quote: Mr. Lewenza said a strike would invariably have an impact on Air Canada's operations.
“Anybody who thinks it's business as usual when 3,800 members are on strike, I don't think is being very realistic.”
Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt has said she's concerned about the potential impact of a work stoppage on Canadians and on Canada's economic recovery.
But the minister couldn't be immediately reached to comment on whether the Conservative government would be open to imposing back-to-work legislation.
Mr. Lewenza said he doesn't believe such action is warranted.
“I don't see this as an essential service, but the federal government does have a majority government and obviously they can basically do what they want to do but they should let the bargaining process work itself out.”
On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Air Canada's shares dropped 6.2 per cent, or 12 cents, at $1.82 in afternoon trading.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/as-strike-looms-huge-gap-re...
Air Canada, union battle over pensions as strike deadline looms
BRENT JANG Monday, Jun. 13, 2011 2:54PM EDTQuote: The CAW has joined forces with two other unions to battle what they consider to be the airline’s attack on pensions, notably proposals to slash payouts to new retirees and weaken pensions for new hires.
On the pension file, the CAW is collaborating with the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. CUPE represents 6,800 flight attendants and the IAM represents 8,300 mechanics, baggage handlers and other ground crew at the Montreal-based carrier.
The three major unions, which have been in their respective contract talks with management for weeks, say the rebounding economy has strengthened the airline’s finances. The unions say they oppose Air Canada’s plans to place new hires on defined-contribution pensions because it would create a two-tier system.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/air-canada-union-battle-over-pensions-as-strike-deadline-looms/article2058784/
CBC showed a crowd carrying placards, some of which read "protect workers pensions - not CEOs".
We are seeing the beginnings of a wholesale attack on workers' pensions plans. The government tried to sell the bogus lump sum payment approach for vets disability and they came back fighting through their ombudsman. The financial obligation of long-term pension payments looks bad on the books. It's counted as a liability which is an anathema to the capitalist at heart.
Air travellers across the country faced delays Tuesday after Air Canada customer service and sales staff went on strike at midnight when their union failed to reach an agreement with the airline.
After a few early-morning delays in Atlantic Canada and Montreal, about 45 flights were reported cancelled or delayed at Toronto's Pearson Airport. Lineups were expected at gates, as passengers boarded their flights. An Air Canada spokesman attributed slower boarding to managers learning their new jobs...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/14/air-canada-strike.html
From what I heard on the radio this morning, the ticket counter here in Saskatoon is being run by Air Canada Jazz ticket agents, who are in another union.
(edit)
Not that I expect the benefits of the past to be restored, but as part of my grandmother's Air Canada spousal pension she had an open ticket to fly anywhere in the world on Air Canada, anytime, and as often as she wanted.
Quote: Air Canada brought in workers from Garda World Security, said Joe Gavaghan, a spokesman for the security company. Garda employees also work as airport security screeners, but Mr. Gavaghan said the staff the company supplied to Air Canada were different personnel. He declined to provide further details.
At Pearson, workers wearing white dress shirts and dark pants identified themselves as Garda employees. Some were stationed near check-in kiosks.
Several flights – both departing and arriving – were delayed, a trend that seemed to intensify during the morning rush.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/air-canada-brings-in-outsid...
Moved to labour and consumption.
Why are the other AC unions crossing the picket line?
Longish story, but here goes:
The other unions are not in a legal strike position (meaning, their own collective agreements haven't expired, or if they have, then they haven't yet reached the point specified in the Canada Labour Code where they can legally strike or be locked out). The CAW members obviously are.
Therefore, the CAW members enjoy full protection under the Code, whereby they cannot be in any way penalized by Air Canada simply for taking strike action, they must be given their jobs back after, etc.
The other union members, on the other hand, are subject to individual disciplinary action, up to dismissal, if they fail to attend at work for non-legitimate reasons (and not crossing someone else's picket line isn't recognized as a legitimate reason, UNLESS you've negotiated that right into your collective agreement, which is incredibly hard to do and therefore incredibly rare).
Also, if other union members take "concerted" action to honour the CAW picket lines, they (and/or their union, if the union has sanctioned it) can be found guilty of illegal strike action of their own (because, to repeat, they're not in a lawful strike position).
That's why I can't believe the CAW has officially called on other unions to respect their picket lines, knowing that that would involve far greater individual and collective risk for the other union members than for CAW members, whose only risk is losing pay while they're on strike.
Now, if another union member can credibly make out a case that they feared for their safety if they crossed a picket line, then they'd have a prima facie reason to refuse to cross - but employers and labour boards and arbitrators are very familiar with that ploy, so it has to be real. If the employer offers to bring them in to work where there are no pickets, for example, they can't refuse without being liable to insubordination charges, discipline, dismissal, etc.
A final legal note: Once pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers, etc. do go in to work, they can lawfully refuse to perform any work normally performed by CAW members (tickets, reservations, airport staffing duties, etc.), without fear of discipline or any reprisal. That's a right conferred by the federal code and most provincial ones.
The law of the land is not conducive to solidarity with striking unions.
..txs catchfire for moving the thread. what you ask, i don't know why!!! i look for information from caw but find little info on their web site. i'm stuck with grabbing stuff from msm. i'll keep looking around for better sources.
Thanks for the explanation, unionist. I know my jaw hit the floor when I heard it.
It is astonishing when I think of one case where teachers were declared essential by the province, but were able to defy the order and stay out because one clerical worker in the school was out and that constituted a line they could not cross.
On the other hand, that was 30 years ago.
CUPE issues statement on possible Air Canada strike
Jun 13, 2011 08:47 PM
CUPE National President Paul Moist and National Secretary Treasurer Claude Généreux issued the following statement today outlining measures CUPE will take to support our CAW sisters and brothers currently negotiating with Air Canada
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Tonight at midnight (June 13, 2011), CAW members representing ticket agents at Air Canada will be in a position to commence strike action after months of frustrating negotiations. At issue are employer concessions on pensions, as well as Air Canada’s proposal to establish a new low cost carrier.
As you know, our union represents almost 7,000 flight attendants who are also in a difficult round of bargaining; our group is currently in conciliation and will be in a legal strike position in August. CUPE’s Air Canada Component has written us and asked us to observe the CAW picket lines, which we of course have every intention of doing. Air Canada will run the airline using scabs and electronics to perform the work of CAW members. While flight attendants are required by law to attend to work, they will support CAW members on their picket lines and will not perform any of the duties of our sisters and brothers on the picket line.
Until further notice our union will not fly Air Canada under any circumstances. We have instructed W.E. Travel to suspend all air travel bookings for the duration of the strike.
We must consider travel options other than flying. Where necessary, we will use other unionized carriers for essential travel, but we must stress this will only be on a very limited basis. It is not appropriate and not an option for our union to switch to non-union carriers such as WestJet. We will support CAW members and indeed any of Air Canada’s unions who take strike action. This will of course pose some inconvenience, which is a small price to pay for fairness for all Air Canada workers.
In the days ahead we will be communicating decisions regarding upcoming CUPE events that ordinarily require air travel. In addition, please watch our web page for updates and for directions on how you might communicate your support for Air Canada workers to the airline and appropriate politicians.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated support. Our unity is our strength and we must support CAW members, our own members, and indeed all Air Canada workers with their current struggle.
In solidarity,
PAUL MOIST
National President
CLAUDE GÉNÉREUX
National Secretary-Treasurer
http://cupe.ca/air-canada/issues-statement-air-canada-strike
The federal government will introduce legislation to order striking Air Canada employees back to work as the labour dispute is harming the economy, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday.
“I'm pleased that tonight the minister of labour will put a notice on the order paper a bill to deal with the Air Canada interruption of service,” Flaherty told reporters.
He said that would mean back-to-work legislation, according to Reuters news agency and Canadian Press.
The announcement comes on the heels of striking Air Canada workers suggesting things could get a whole lot worse at the country’s nine largest airports.
Things were relatively calm Tuesday morning, but as one striking worker said: “It looks good right now. Is it going to stay this way? No.”
“We’re on Tuesday morning, it’s probably the slowest morning of the week,” Dawn Moreau, an Air Canada customer service agent for 34 years, told The Canadian Press. “You get into your afternoon shifts, you get into your evening shifts, you get into snowball effects down the line.”
But so far any problems have failed to materialize....
http://www.accomponent.ca/en/news/ottawa-order-striking-air-canada-worke...
Thanks for the link above epaulo. And bravo CUPE!
Great statement, Paul Moist! And you'll see from this quote the essence of what I explained above in reply to Catchfire's query:
In other words, the flight attendants are continuing to work - they really have no practical alternative under the law.
Main News Room, AC Bargaining, Air Canada
1 hour ago
(Toronto) The CAW is responding with frustration and anger to the news that Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt plans to table back to work legislation for Air Canada workers, less than 24 hours since the strike began.
This action by the government is a clear interference with the right to free collective bargaining,” said CAW National President Ken Lewenza. "The speed at which this legislation has been tabled points to a very real collusion by the Conservative federal government and Air Canada, to strip workers of their rights.
"Our members have entrusted us to reach a negotiated settlement on their behalf. After 10 weeks of negotiations, there is no reason that the two sides should not be able to come to a tentative agreement, other than the fact that the company is unwilling to do so.
"This is a deplorable model for labour relations for this country; it sets a dangerous precedent when the government can get involved in the collective bargaining of workers employed by a privately-owned, for profit-company.”
Lewenza said that he believes it is possible to reach an agreement with Air Canada in the next 48 hours before the legislation is introduced.
Picket lines will continue in all locations across the country.
The CAW has been on strike since 12:01 a.m. this morning.
http://www.caw2002tca.ca/NewsRoom/page43203414.aspx
Interesting.
In other words the report I heard on the radio this morning was inaccurate, or at least misleading, because they said the strike was not having a big impact here in Saskatoon because Air Canada Jazz staff were working.
Main News Room, AC Bargaining, Jazz: CSA-ACS, Air Canada
1 hour ago
Regrettably, CAW members who work at Air Canada are now out on strike after the two sides were unable to reach a tentative agreement by the June 13th 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time deadline.
"This is an extremely difficult time for both our Jazz and Air Canada members that work side by side at all of our shared bases," said Jamie Ross, President of CAW Local 2002.
"It has come to our attention that because of the strike at Air Canada, some of our members are being asked by management to parachute into these bases to perform work normally done by an Air Canada worker. This work is only available because of the strike," said Ross.
Jazz contends that they are not violating the Collective agreement. However, the CAW believes that this practice was meant to enhance the existing staff at the base; not replace struck work by Air Canada or Jazz.
Parachuting is strictly a volunteer option for the Jazz membership. The CAW requests that any member who is approached for such a task that they reject the offer until the Company and Union reach a fair collective agreement.
Jazz could easily be in the same position, and members would not appreciate Air Canada parachuting into the bases to take on scope work normally completed by a Jazz worker.
Members should understand that management is trying to divide the Jazz and Air Canada membership by deploying this unethical contingency plan.
http://www.caw2002tca.ca/NewsRoom/page11061401.aspx
The CAW in my humble opinion should be a little more forceful and tell their own members on Jazz to keep their f***-ing hands off any work normally performed by Local 2002 members on strike. They are fully protected by the law - Canada Labour Code section 94(3)(c):