To allow additional time to bid for your February block given the recent mitigation award, the February 2021 PBS bid period will be extended to 0900 EST on January 21st. To maintain the award timeline, the contesting period will be reduced by 24 hours.
PBS Bid Close Extension
To allow additional time to bid for your February block given the recent mitigation process, the February 2021 PBS bid period will be extended to 0900 EST on January 21st.
This will not delay the awards process.
Your Letter To Freeland – CEWS Update 😔 😦 😠
The following press release was issued this morning:
Air Canada is taking federal dollars and running, leaving thousands of workers behind: CUPE
The union representing 9,000 flight attendants at Air Canada says the airline is pocketing federal wage supports to pad their bottom line, and leaving thousands of its employees behind.
Air Canada announced an additional 1,400 layoffs on January 13, including 700 active flight attendants at Air Canada Mainline and a further 100 at Air Canada Rouge who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), on top of thousands of others who have been laid off since the pandemic rocked the industry in March 2020.
Despite months of contending with the airline that all members laid off should receive the weekly Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) – which is the stated purpose of the CEWS – Air Canada contends that only those still on active duty, who represent a fraction of the company’s actual workforce, will be used to access this subsidy.
“The CEWS was created so workers have a job to return to as the economy rebounds. Why is Air Canada refusing free money to help the workers who built this company keep their jobs?” asked Wesley Lesosky, President of the Air Canada Component of CUPE. “And why is the government allowing Air Canada to take the wage subsidy and run, padding their bottom line and leaving behind thousands of their employees?”
Air Canada is the only major airline in Canada that is denying access to the CEWS for its inactive workforce. WestJet, Air Transat and Sunwing have all continued access to the program since spring 2020 because they know it is the right thing to do for their employees and their families.
“The entire purpose of the CEWS was to help companies avoid sweeping mass layoffs,” continued Lesosky. “But Air Canada wants to have their cake and eat it too, by taking the subsidy and still laying us off. It’s an absolute travesty that the federal government is letting them get away with it. Why has the federal government allowed large corporations access to this program, without any conditions to ensure workers that are subject to layoff will be protected?”
Allowing workers to retain their jobs on CEWS allows them to retain important benefits during a pandemic, and it also would allow them to continue to work periodically without penalty – neither of which are possible when workers are laid off and forced onto Employment Insurance.
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Today we issued a statement (see above) calling on the government to fix the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program, which Air Canada has been withholding from the majority of our members who need it. We encourage all members and their families – whether on active duty or not – to send a message to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and to their MP to tell them it’s time to fix CEWS for all workers in Canada. You can use the template below and send it to Minister Freeland (Chrystia.Freeland@parl.gc.ca) and find your own MP’s email address here. Please copy your Union, (contact@accomponent.ca) – we want to ensure we are getting heard!
We have been working on fixing CEWS since June, but the company, government and local MPs have not heard us, so it is time to turn up the heat. Your voice matters, and your voice must be heard.
Please feel free to personalise this template so it speaks to your individual circumstances and will convey how profoundly affected you have been. Please pass it on and consider assisting a friend in sending theirs too. Our voice has strength in numbers.
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[ MESSAGE TEMPLATE ]
Dear Minister Freeland
I am an Air Canada flight attendant. I am writing to urge you to act immediately to fix the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) so that major employers like my own can no longer manipulate this subsidy to support their own bottom line. In the process they are leaving thousands of workers behind.
As you know, the CEWS was created so that companies could avoid a mass layoff of their employees due to COVID-19. Instead of honouring the intent of the program, Air Canada is taking whatever free money it can and still laying off four out of five flight attendants at our airline.
Air Canada is the only major airline in Canada that is denying access to the CEWS for its inactive workforce. WestJet, Air Transat and Sunwing have all continued to give their furloughed employees access to the program since spring 2020 – because they know it is the right thing to do for their employees and their families.
Allowing workers like me to keep a connection to my job while we wait out the pandemic means I can continue accessing my benefits. It means I can work periodically without penalty. Furthermore, it means that once this is all over, I can go back to work as a highly trained in-flight safety professional in an industry where safety expertise and experience are paramount and valued.
Please tell Air Canada to stop abusing this program and abusing their workers. It’s time to do the right thing.
Sincerely,
[ INSERT YOUR NAME HERE ]
***
In Solidarity,
Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE
Mitigation Update 2
The Company has released its mitigation packages this morning. The selection process will be open until Monday, January 18, 2021 at 08:00 EST.
The Options available to members at Mainline and Rouge are as follows:
- Resignation with C3 Travel and Benefits Programs
- 3-month Special Leaves of Absence (February 2021 to April 2021 inclusive)
- 3-month Reduced Block Program (February 2021 to April 2021 inclusive)
Please click HERE for full terms and selection information for Mainline.
Please click HERE for full terms and selection information for Rouge.
Please note an updated seniority list has been posted on the Mainline and Rouge portals.
| All members are eligible to bid on the Mitigation Programs; however Special Leaves of Absences and Reduced Block Programs will be awarded by seniority to those who would otherwise not be placed on Layoff Status. Meaning, you cannot hold an SPLOA or RBP program if you are not able to hold flying for February 2021. |
Once the mitigation program is complete, award results and any resulting layoff notices will be sent to your Air Canada email by January 20, 2021 at 23:00 EST.
As a reminder recalls from layoff status are done in order of master seniority regardless of originating airline as per Article 17.16 of the Collective Agreement. Recall rights for both Mainline and Rouge are for five (5) years from the date of layoff.
In solidarity,
Notice Of Upcoming Local Elections – 2021
In accordance with the Air Canada Component Bylaws, anyone wishing to be nominated should adhere to the following information:
C.3 Notice of Local Officer Elections
C.3.1 Beginning in 2021 Local Officer Elections shall be held in March, last a minimum of ten (10) days and close at 12:00 noon EST on the final day of voting. Terms shall be as follows:
(a) President, Vice-President, and Secretary-Treasurer elections shall be held every two (2) years until 2021. As of 2021 these elections shall be held every three (3) years.
(b) A trustee election shall be held every year.
C.4 Nomination Procedures for Local Officer Elections
C.4.1 Members who wish to be nominated for a Local Officer position (Local President, Local Vice-President, Local Secretary-Treasurer, or Local Trustee) shall file nomination papers and a completed Oath of Nomination form, to be received by the Chairperson of the Component Tabulating Committee by February 15th in the calendar year preceding the Local Officer Elections. The Component Tabulating Committee shall have full responsibility for voting arrangements in accordance with these Bylaws.
C.4.2 A candidate may be nominated for only one (1) position and in doing so may only solicit signatures for one (1) intended position. Candidates shall disclose their full name and intended position clearly on the nomination papers prior to soliciting signatures.
C.4.3 Nomination forms, as provided by the Component Tabulating Committee, must have signatures from lesser of either:
(a) Fifty (50) members of the eligible voters on the Local’s Membership List; or
(b) Five (5%) percent of the eligible voters on the Local’s Membership List.
* IMPORTANT: Due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, and on an exceptional basis, the Component Tabulating Committee will accept electronic signatures on nomination forms for the 2021 Local Election. An electronic signature must be the member’s actual signature and not simply the member’s name typed onto the nomination form. This will allow for members not actively in the workplace to nominate a candidate for a Local position. The nomination form must be filled out, in ink, in its entirety by the candidate, signed off and dated prior to scanning for electronically received signatures. We are doing this to ensure all members have an opportunity to run, as well as ensure all members have an opportunity to collect signatures, with the COVID pandemic in place, many of you are not able to access your work sites or Union offices due to not having a RAIC.
C.4.4 The Oath of Nomination form (Appendix “F”) must be completed in its entirety in order to be accepted by the Tabulating Committee.
NOTE: For interested candidates, a complete instruction package with nomination sheets will be available on the Air Canada Component website www.accomponent.ca, as well as by request from your Local office, or by clicking HERE. It is recommended that you read the complete instruction package.
DEADLINE: Completed Nomination Sheets and the Oath of Nomination must be received no later than, February 15, 2021, at 16:00 EST at the following address:
AIR CANADA COMPONENT TABULATING COMMITTEE
25 BELFIELD ROAD
ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO
M9W 1E8
Nomination Sheets and the Oath of Nomination received after February 15, 2021 at 16:00 EST will NOT be accepted. The Tabulating Committee recommends sending your documentation by registered mail to ensure timely delivery and receipt.
In Solidarity,
Your Component Tabulating Committee