It’s Safety Week!
Are you itching to write reports?
Aside from being everyone’s favourite pastime, reporting is extremely important to our safety operation! Join your health and safety committees today to play the Wheel of Safety for a chance to win shine points!
In solidarity,
Your Air Canada Component of CUPE Health and Safety Committee
Last week the Union met with Arbitrator Eli Gedalof and Air Canada as a requirement of the reopener bargaining process. During this meeting, the Union advised the Employer that based on our sincere attempts that we felt that the parties were at an impasse. We did not see the value in continuing with the mediation process and wanted to utilise our available dates for interest arbitration. It was then discussed at length and the parties agreed to use one of the dates to hear the Cost-of-Living grievance. On May 30, 2023 we will hear CHQ-22-48 COLA LOU 35 ME TOO. Please click HERE to view the original bulletin.
As many of you may know, our Collective Agreement has language relating to cost-of-living increases:
LETTER OF UNDERSTANDING 35: COLA AND “ME TOO”
L35.01 In conjunction with the effective date of the annualized uplifts agreed to by the parties and set out in Article 5 of the collective agreement, wage increases will be subject to further negotiations if:
i. other bargaining agents (ACPA, ALPA, CAW, IAMAW, or CALDA) have negotiated higher percentage wage uplifts effective before the expiry of the CUPE collective agreement;
or
ii. the consumer price index of the previous year exceeds the wage increases by more than one (1.0%) percent for any of the three (3) calendar years referenced in Article 5 of the collective agreement.
Note: In the event other bargaining units achieve a higher percentage increase as a result of demonstrable productivity or work rule changes, such will be taken into consideration should further negotiation on wages be required.
The Union has asked that this hearing be opened to the membership, and we are waiting for a response relating to the Company’s position. We will keep you posted.
In solidarity,
Your ACCEX
It is with great pleasure and an honour that I draft this memo to introduce myself to all of you. I am also excited to welcome our fellow Rouge Cabin Crew members. My name is Vanessa Beaudoin Grégoire, and I am the new National Coordinator of our Employee Assistance Program.
Over the past five years, I have dedicated over 1,000 hours to this program. It is dear to my heart, and I have loved every moment. I consider it to be a true privilege to stand beside someone in their time of need. Our EAP committee has over twenty peer volunteers who answer, listen, and support every day. If needed, they can also refer members to free, confidential support. In my eyes, they are our quiet heroes. Each one of them brings a specialized and unique set of skills to our team. I am grateful to have them beside me!
Over the past 6 years I have specialized my studies in addiction and trauma informed care, mental health, and CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management). I have also worked in grief support and suicide prevention.
I wish to work towards normalizing certain topics of conversations regarding historically stigmatized issues. My goal is to encourage individual resiliency and to provide emotional, social, and practical support to our group. I love being a Flight Attendant and I adore my work. I have been flying for over 23 years and have had an amazing career, though certainly not without some rough patches along the way. From friendships to marriage, kids and aging parents, life and work balance, anxiety, job security and crew conflict. The pandemic was extremely taxing on my fellow coworkers, but also on my family.
We do not stand alone. This has always been the beauty of this job. We stand stronger together. As an in-flight family, we brave the elements of our industry while keeping a smile on our face; though it can, at times, be the loneliest job while surrounded by millions.
Historically, we have been predominantly reactive when encountering issues. I want to switch our culture and promote support within our community involving all departments.
I would like to close with a reminder that confidentiality is paramount and cornerstone to all we do. Please do not hesitate to contact us. You can also contact me directly by email or by phone.
I will close with this…
“When we imagine our choices and consider which to seize, given a choice between light and dark, we will nearly always find a way of moving toward the light.” – Brian Murray
Thank you!
National Coordinator Employee Assistance Program
Vanessa Beaudoin Grégoire
v.beaudoin@accomponent.ca
Cell: 1-403-472-6868 YYC 3081
Urgent Cell: 1-403-461-4091
Western Region Coordinator
Shannon McBride
s.mcbride@accomponent.ca
1-778-991-4112 YVR 3247
Eastern Region Coordinator
Mary-Rita Dunning
m.dunning@accomponent.ca
T1 Office 1-906-676-2088 YYZ 2222
Cell: 1-647-802-0895
Yesterday we issued a bulletin in which we thanked the membership for their participation in the Stress Assess survey. Over the past 24 hours, many comments have surfaced questioning if this was sarcasm and/or that it’s sad if we were being serious.
As a leader, I choose to have faith in all of you and to know that you care. According to OHCOW, statistics show that most people don’t finish a survey if it takes longer than 7 minutes to fill out. Ours took an average of 21 minutes! So, a 50% turnout amongst a mobile workforce our size – that literally checks out at the end of their shifts – is nothing to sneeze at. The experts running the survey – who have decades of experience – are blown away by the number of complete responses YOU submitted. Of all the workplaces that Stress Assess has been run around the world, ours is one of the most responsive by numbers.
So, don’t be so hard on yourselves. Can we do better, absolutely. Should we strive as a membership to engage more the next time the Union reaches out – sure. But let’s take this as a win that almost 4,700 of you completed the survey. Those of you who did it, share your experience with others who didn’t. Let them know if it was interesting and use this experience to drive further engagement in the union.
Take care everyone, stay safe, believe in the power of positivity and remember that WE are the union.
In solidarity,
Jordan
April 28th – Remembering those who never got to go home, or whose lives have been forever changed.
Across countless industries there are always pressures that can infringe on safety. Ours is no different. We must always keep safety closest to our hearts, and make it our number one priority.
Please join us in a moment of silence to honour our CUPE colleagues who lost their lives at work in 2022, as well as the thousands of workers from all industries who suffered workplace injuries and hundreds who died while on the job.
Sherri Anne D’Amour, CUPE 5167, Ontario
Michael Boulanger, CUPE 4705, Ontario
Wilmer Gonzalez, CUPE 2740, Saskatchewan
In solidarity,
Your Air Canada Component of CUPE Health and Safety Committee
