ARTICLE 18 ‑ FILLING OF VACANCIES
PREAMBLE: When Article 18 is at variance with Letter of Understanding 2, Bilingual Block Positions, and Letter of Understanding 1, In‑Charge ‑ Filling of Vacancies, the provisions of those letters will apply.
18.01 Seniority shall govern the filling of vacancies, subject to the provisions of Article 18, provided the employee concerned has reasonable qualifications for the operations involved as determined by the Vice President, Customer Service.
18.01.01 Subject to the provisions of Article 17, the Company may declare NLFA vacancies at a Designated Base. The filling of NLFA vacancies shall be governed by the following priorities:
18.01.01.01 Actioning of NLFA statements of preference for Base transfer;
18.01.01.02 Transfer of NLFA’s surplus to requirement at another Base, except employees who were hired prior to January 1, 1993;
18.01.01.03 Assignment of NLFA graduates from initial training.
18.01.02 The Company may establish the number of NLFA’s vacancies required at each Designated Base. The number shall be established in accordance with the schedule in Appendix 4 and will include blocks, supplemental blocks, plus ten (10%) percent Reserve.
18.02 Assignments to a Base shall be classed as permanent or temporary. A temporary assignment to a Base is any assignment, which, in the Company’s opinion, is expected to be in existence three (3) consecutive months or less.
18.03 The filling of vacancies shall be governed by the following priorities subject to the provisions of Article 18.01.
NOTE: It is the intention of the parties that cabin personnel who transferred to another base at the time of layoff, upon request, will be returned to their original base prior to actioning the transfer list.
18.03.01 Recall of personnel on laid‑off status and return of personnel.
18.03.02 Return of personnel who transferred under article 17.02 and 17.03. S/he shall be provided with not more than five (5) calendar days from the time of verbal or written notification to respond to the offer. Employees transferred under Articles 17.02 and 17.03 who are notified of a permanent assignment at the point of transfer, must accept, or their rights to be returned to their original base will expire.
18.03.03 Acting on statements of preference for Base transfer.
18.03.04 Transfer of personnel surplus to requirement at another Base.
18.03.05 Assignment of graduates from a training class.
18.04 Any employee who desires to transfer to a different Base may file a statement of preference in accordance with the provisions of Article 18.07. Upon transfer, an employee may file another statement of preference, but the Company need not act upon the request for a period of six (6) months from the date of transfer.
18.05 The provisions of Article 18.04 do NOT apply to probationary employees on initial base training. A probationary employee may use the transfer provisions outlined in Article 18.04 provided that three (3) months of his/her probationary period will be available at the receiving location. This may require a voluntary extension of the probationary period. The In‑Flight Service Base Director/Manager at the initial location may grant exemptions from such voluntary extensions if s/he considers the Flight Attendant has proved himself to be satisfactory.
18.06.01 Notwithstanding the provisions of this Article, two or more employees within the same classification who have filed a
statement of preference transfer, may transfer, subject to seniority and language qualifications, on a mutual exchange basis. Such exchanges will not create or fill a vacancy.
NOTE: For the purpose of this Article, “within the same classification” is defined as two or more employees qualified and holding seniority in the classification of In‑Charge or Flight Attendant.
18.07 Statements of preference will be completed by an employee who wishes to transfer from one Base to another and acted upon by the Company as follows:
18.07.01 Application ‑ will be made in writing utilizing the statement of preference form and forwarded via Registered Canada Post to the Vice President, Customer Service.
18.07.01.01 Statements of preference will be maintained on file by the Company for the current calendar year and will expire in all cases on December 31st of the year submitted.
18.07.01.02 An employee shall be provided with the current status of all statements of preference on file upon written request to the Vice President, Customer Service.
18.07.02 Withdrawal ‑ a statement of preference may be withdrawn by an employee at any time in writing and forwarded via Registered Canada Post to the Vice President, Customer Service.
18.07.03 Offer ‑ When a statement of preference is acted upon and an employee is offered a transfer, s/he shall be provided with not less than forty‑eight (48) hours from the time of verbal or written notification to respond to the offer.
18.07.03.01 The Company may elect to act on statements of preference in excess of the number of vacancies to be filled. Such excess offers shall be considered conditional based on the acceptance or declination of offers made to more senior employees.
18.07.04 Acceptance ‑ An employee accepting a transfer will be required to signify his/her acceptance in writing.
18.07.04.01 In the case of a mutual transfer under the provisions of Article 18.06, neither of the employees will be permitted to decline or withdraw their request after having accepted in accordance with Article 18.07.04, unless mutually acceptable to the Company and the Union at the Headquarters level.
18.07.05 Declination ‑ An employee declining an offer to transfer will be required to signify his/her declination in writing. The declination will constitute a withdrawal of the request and the Company need not action any statement of preference from that employee for a period of six (6) months from the date of his/her declination.
18.07.06 An employee transferring under the provisions of Article 18.04 will be given a minimum of fifteen (15) days notice before effecting the transfer unless otherwise mutually agreed to between the employee and the Company.
18.08  
; In making an assignment to a temporary vacancy, whether or not there are statements of preference on file, the Vice President, Customer Service shall fill such vacancy as s/he deems fit.
18.09 Where an assignment is made by the Vice President, Customer Service to a permanent vacancy from statements of preference, an employee so assigned shall assume his/her own moving expenses, space available transportation being provided in accordance with Company Regulations.
18.10 In filling a vacancy by transfer of personnel surplus to requirements, the Company shall pay reasonable moving expenses, space available transportation being provided in accordance with Company Regulations.
18.11 Vacancies beyond the filling of the first vacancy and the vacancy that may have been created thereby, may be filled by the Vice President, Customer Service as s/he deems fit. If the vacancy is filled through the implementation of a statement of preference, the employee shall assume the moving expenses, the Company providing space available transportation in accordance with Company Regulations.