As many of you know, 98% of our Air Canada pilot colleagues and ALPA members recently voted in favour of job action, if necessary. The vote had a 98% participation rate.
We have had many of our members reach out with questions about this and what would happen if they were to go on strike. We have been assured by the company that any potential labour disruption would trigger the language of LOU 6 in our Collective Agreement (Click HERE to view). They have also provided assurances that no members would be stranded. They will make all efforts to ensure that members are returned to base. Much like the other bargaining units at Air Canada, until any action is taken, we will not know the gravity of the situation for our members.
On August 22, 2024 and August 27, 2024 Air Canada Inflight service sent out Globe bulletins (Click HERE to view both bulletins). These bulletins refer to the potential pilot strike and provide some talking points and suggestions for members to assist them with responding to inquiries from passengers.
Air Canada has provided these documents to guide you. If you do not wish to respond to inquiries and provide the verbatim responses provided that is your choice. This suggestion is provided with the caveat that if you wish to respond with your own wording to do so in a respectful manner sticking to the facts as we know them. We respect the right of our colleagues at ALPA to use all means available to them to negotiate and ratify a collective agreement freely and fairly.
The Labour movement is certainly taking the foreground in the public eye in recent months. We believe in the right to free and open collective bargaining and urge you to support our colleagues across this country who are struggling for a working wage and good working conditions among so many other things.
We are closely following what has happened with the Government intervention in the negotiations at CN and CP. We have reached out to the Teamsters Canada Union to ensure they know we are all in this together. We cannot and will not allow the government to interfere with the rights afforded to us by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We will go into our own round of negotiations with Air Canada to secure a better future for our members at Air Canada Mainline and Air Canada Rouge. We waited far too long to get to the table and our path is clear. We will use all of the resources in our toolbox to ensure that we stay on this path and achieve what we have set out to achieve.
In solidarity,
