We are updating the membership regarding our current Rouge flow through members being housed at the EVO Student Residence in Montreal during their training program. The Company finally decided to act on our concerns and these members will soon be moved to traditional / full-service hotel accommodation over the next few days.
This was a concerted team effort by the Local 4098 President, Hotel Committee chairs and our Component President to bring forward our strong opposition to the company and ensure that our CUPE members would not accept anything less than what is provided for as standard layover accommodation as per the language of the Collective Agreement.
When we were initially advised of the training accommodation, we immediately requested a full site inspection, prior to any members staying at the EVO. The inspection took place on September 17, 2019. The CUPE Hotel Inspector attended the audit and reported back to the Team, with detailed notes related to the health, safety and security of the property. Together the team determined that the hotel was non-compliant with our standards and reported our concerns back to the company. We put the company on notice that we would not compromise our standards nor the safety and security of our members whether it be for training purposes or otherwise. Following the site inspection, the company sought concurrence from the Union of which it was subsequently denied. (Click HERE to view the denied Concurrence letter).
The Company chose to ignore our denial and continued with its plan to house our members in this accommodation. Following the denial, we continued to follow-up with our ongoing concerns. We remained unsatisfied and we proceeded, with the filing of a grievance on October 1, 2019 (Click HERE to view the grievance). The Hotel Committee continued to bring its concerns forward to Crew Administration, and we included Labour Relations.
When the Union raised our specific concerns, we were very clear that to continue to house our members at the EVO was not without risk to their health, safety, security and overall well-being while away from home base. Thanks to the efforts of many concerned parties and members we have been successful in convincing the company to re-locate the affected Rouge flow through members to a full-service Hotel property.
In Solidarity,
Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE
Robyn Sharpe
President, Local 4098
Melinda Allen & Alex Habib
Co-Chairs, Component Hotel Committee