We wanted to send out a quick update on a few issues that have come to light recently:

 

Hong Kong and Testing

The Company has advised the Union of the following:

 

In addition to on-site testing at the Asia World Expo in HKG on arrival, effective 29 July 2020 all aircrew who arrive in HKG must have tested negative for COVID-19 within the 48 hours prior to boarding the flight to HKG from Canada.

 

All aircrew who are awarded an HKG flight will be scheduled by Crew Scheduling to have a COVID-19 test completed at an Air Canada YVR Medical Office at 5530 Miller Road in Richmond. Operating crew will be contacted by Crew Scheduling and advised of the testing appointment time. 

 

The appointment will take approximately 15 min. All affected crew will receive 3 hours pay for the testing.

 

Please note, if you have been scheduled a Hong Kong cycle, you will have a Globe message with further information, we encourage you to reach out if you have any concerns or questions.

 

Component Officers Meet and Greet

Your Component Officers will be hosting a live webinar on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 16:00 EDT for one hour. The webinar will be hosted on Zoom and can be accessed through a computer, tablet, or smart phone. There will also be an audio-only option available through telephone dial-in.
The Webinar is open to any of our members that wish to participate, active or inactive, Mainline or Rouge.

As the capacity of the webinar will be 500 people, we will be asking those of you interested in participating to register in advance. If the demand is greater than 500, we will hold further webinars in the near future to ensure that everyone is able to participate. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.  To register go to:

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aXEuQpyARjS3qwsPtc0Obg

We encourage you to send your questions in ahead of time so that we can make the hour as productive as possible.  Please send them to contact@accomponent.ca.

As we are having a Component Executive meeting in the near future, we wanted to ensure that our commitment to stay in touch was maintained. As you may be aware, in the past we had meet and greet sessions planned around the time of the Component Executive meetings. We want to continue to hear from the membership about the issues that concern them. We have received great feedback from the members on this and we are hoping that the webinar proves to be well received and a welcome addition to our communication strategy.

 

Wearing Face Coverings Masks Onboard

Your Union has received much feedback on face coverings/ masks onboard the aircraft.  We have raised the issues with the company, and in consultation, you will see new announcements coming out shortly.  The new announcements, that will be made prior to meal service as well as prior to pick up, are meant to remind passengers that face coverings must be worn and are mandatory while cabin crew are in their presence.  Many of you have reached out on this, filed concerns and reached out directly to your managers.  Please continue to share these important concerns as we all find ways to move through our new reality.

 

Mandatory temperature screening for crew effective July 30, 2020

As recently advised on July 24, 2020 in the IFS News Bulletin, mandatory temperature screening will commence July 30, 2020 anytime you go through security in YVR, YYC, YYZ and YUL.  More information came out about this from the employer, please ensure you have read it clearly, and if you have any concerns or questions, please reach out.  As noted in a previous bulletin this temperature screening will be expanded to include the next 11 busiest airports in Canada through the months of August and September.  We will continue to monitor this carefully and will be continuing to communicate directly with Transport Canada about our concerns. Should you have any questions or concerns about this please let us know.  We want to make sure that you are as well informed as we are.

In solidarity,

The COVID-19 landscape continues to evolve, and we were made aware that Air Canada will be implementing a new process.  This process involves voluntary COVID-19 testing for crew members. The testing will first be made available in YVR at Occupational Health Services starting on July 15th and by July 22nd it should be available to all bases except for YYC.  Calgary is to be confirmed at a later time.  The testing will be provided Monday to Friday from 08:00-12:00.

In preparation for the new procedures for members travelling into Hong Kong we have attached a copy of a bulletin that we issued recently, click HERE to view.

Once it is fully implemented, full-time working crew, as well as crew who have recently been recalled and are preparing for their flights, are eligible for this testing should they wish to access it. Employees who are on lay-off status will not be part of this testing.

As you can imagine we had many questions. We had numerous discussions with Air Canada so that we had a clear picture of what was transpiring and could report back to you.

One of the first questions we had was what kind of test it would be. We were advised that it would be a PCR or Nucleic acid-based test performed via a nasal swab.  According to the Government of Canada this test is the gold standard used in Canada and abroad to diagnose active COVID-19 infection.  https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/medical-devices/testing/serological.html

We had concerns about the privacy of the medical information obtained as a part of this testing and whether or not their practices were in compliance with privacy legislation in Canada. We were assured that the storing of the information will be handled as per The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). For more information about PIPEDA please see the following link: https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda

We had questions about how the information obtained would be used, if at all.  We were told that the information taken for the test will only be used for the test. The information will be stored for up too 7 years as per PIPEDA. Any Information relating to a positive test will be sent to the appropriate Public Health Agency. The results will not be made available to anyone else other than OC Health.

We asked Air Canada if there was a company policy relating to this and it was provided to us. The policy can be found HERE.

Air Canada will be providing more information via a Q and A document relating to how long the test will take, how to book a test, who shares the results and how long it will take for those results, among other things. We will be consulting with legal counsel on all elements of this new process to ensure that your rights are protected. More information will be made available as soon as we receive it. Our main focus is, and will always be, the health and well-being of our membership and their families.

In solidarity,