During our recent Zoom Bargaining Roadshow, members had the opportunity to ask important questions about the ongoing negotiations, key issues at the table, and what comes next. We appreciate everyone who participated, shared concerns, and engaged in meaningful discussions.
This bulletin captures some of the questions from members, along with clear answers to help keep everyone informed. Our goal is to ensure transparency and provide you with the latest updates as we move through the bargaining process.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement!
1. Q: What efforts are being made to modernize the new contract? Are legal professionals involved in drafting it to ensure clear and precise language, preventing the company from taking advantage of vague terms?
A: Our Collective Agreement is a legacy collective agreement. It is the product of many years of negotiations. We have legal counsel and collective agreement experts involved in the process of drafting collective agreement language. We are aware of areas that need improvement. We are ensuring that any language that is introduced has strength and can be enforced. Through each round of negotiations, we commit to improving this language and not giving up language that is iron clad which the employer may want to remove.
2. Q: Would be helpful if the website (unfaircanada.com) you’re using as your platform included a forum where members could openly ask these types of questions. This would allow for better transparency and collective discussion, rather than relying on individual emails or Facebook for communication.
A: The media company that we hired, Point Blank Media, is well known and very experienced. We have spent months planning our media strategy and it is being implemented at each step along the way. This does not include adding the ability for comments with questions and answers. If members have questions, we are more than happy to have more Road Shows to provide updates as we move through the bargaining process.
3. Q: Does the committee intend to publish anything advising the membership of what is on the bargaining table?
A: We are currently engaged in the negotiations process, and it can be a very painstaking and lengthy undertaking. We heard loud and clear from the members what mattered to them. This was via the survey and communication with many members. We have our priorities identified. We will be checking in on a regular basis to ensure that the members are advised.
The bulletin Bargaining Committee Update #6 gave a full list of the items we are looking into. Once we have any updates we can share, we will to ensure you are up to date.
4. Q: Any idea how long it will take us to bargain a new CA?
A: Your bargaining committee has been working through a strategic timeline since June 2023. This timeline is fluid and has and will be adjusted as needed. It considered our media campaign at the start of negotiations, mobilization, communications to membership through a multitude of platforms, the next federal election, conciliation period, strike mandate and vote, 72-hour notice to strike, and most importantly the most impactful time to go on strike if needed.
We can commit that we are NOT looking to follow a similar timeline as other bargaining units and have our own plan. Our goal is to have a tentative deal done much sooner than what we saw play out previously with other groups. Our plan includes a comprehensive job action plan, if required, for all our bases, which will also include figuring out ways our members outside of those cities can participate. This is going to be a very dynamic and fluid process and that is why it is crucial that members are involved from the early stages.
5. Q: As a first timer on contract negotiations what should I be expecting to see and the dates throughout the process?
A: The following document should serve to give a very clear path of the process.
Click HERE to view the PDF version of the chart.
6. Q: Are you asking the company to make it mandatory to leave the last row open on the 737 for crew breaks? It is not possible to close off one washroom to use the crew seats at 2L. There are not enough washrooms as is.
A: Crew rest onboard the aircraft is part of our package as previously reported. We understand how long some days can be and not having somewhere to sit down is unacceptable.
7. Q: In addition to what you are negotiating for a new contract including our hourly wage increase (for the current rising cost of living and inflation) and to be paid during boarding time.
A: We are guided by the survey and the priorities of our members. Ensuring all hours worked are paid and securing a pay increase are key concerns. Our members have made it clear that every hour of their work should be compensated, and this remains one of our top priorities.
8. Q: Regarding prone rest, could this include the possibility of implementing a 10-hour key-in-hand rule for all layovers, for example?
A: Proper crew rest on layover is one of our priorities. We believe that a well rested crew is crucial for safety and the health and well being of the members is very important in this round of negotiations.
9. Q: How will the Union make sure 100% that the members understand the Collective Agreement language that is negotiated. It is already difficult to understand the Collective Agreement that was written by lawyers.
A: You are right that many collective agreements such as ours was written by lawyers. It is our intention to work on a plain language project to help the members navigate the language of the Collective Agreement. We have created our Reserve Handbook, and our Contract Guide in the hopes that it helps to clarify exactly what some of the language means. You can find these documents on our website and links below.
- Reserve Handbook (English)
- Reserve Handbook (French)
- Contract Guide – Mainline (English)
- Contract Guide – Mainline (French)
- Contract Guide – Rouge (English)
- Contract Guide – Rouge (French)
10. Q: Is the Union using experts in their Bargaining? Last time there was not any information on which experts were used, and we want to be sure that we are using lawyers and experts.
A: Collective Bargaining is a comprehensive process. All data has been carefully analysed, and we have been having numerous discussions about it with experts in the respective fields. The data can give us key insights into costs of various proposals. This round we are using experts in their field such as pension experts. We will use all these resources to our advantage so that our proposals and counter proposals are well informed. We are not trying in any way to be secretive however there are elements of negotiations that are not provided to the membership. Unless and until we have come to agreement on something there is no practical purpose of providing details as it would only lead to speculation and misinformation. Rest assured we have committed to keep the members informed and will continue to do so when we have information to share.
11. Q: I just wanted to ask a question for the roadshow. I hear a lot of people talking about the fact that if we don’t have a contract / tentative offer by March 31st that we could go on strike as of that day? I feel like the pilots were in negotiations for many, many months without a contract before it came to that. So basically, my question is it true that it could be that day? Or is it more likely to be a much later day if negotiations stall.
A: We cannot go on strike until we have come to an impasse and have taken a strike vote, and that would not be until we have gone into conciliation, possible mediation and then come to a full impasse, completed a cooling off period and moved forward. There will be ample notice and information prior to us going down that road.
12. Q: What happens April 1, 2025, when the CA is done? Is there hope that we will have signed a new one by then? if we haven’t, do we follow the old one until a new one is signed?
A: The current Collective Agreement will remain in place past the expiry date and any retroactivity would be addressed as a part of negotiating the new Collective Agreement.
13. Q: If we successfully negotiate an indexed pension, will that apply to people who have already retired?
A: We are in the early stages of our pension discussions due to data collection and the analysis of pension text, etc. Any changes to our current plan would need to be negotiated including any potential indexation. We would like to see indexing and understand, based on our survey, that this is a strong want from the membership.
14. Q: What about crew complement? How can Air Canada compete with so few flight attendants? If they want to be a top tier airline they need more crew.
A: We have included crew complement provisions in our proposals. The complement we have pales by comparison with many of our competitors. All this data has been compiled and collected by the Bargaining Committee analysts and researchers.
15. Q: The pilots have negotiated many things for themselves. Have you been looking at what they got?
A: We have carefully analysed all aspects of what the pilots have negotiated. The reality is that we will negotiate what is best for our membership. It does not hurt to know and be aware of what others have achieved but quite frankly we have done a lot of work preparing for this and have based this on the survey, membership meetings and Zoom question and answered with the members. Our gains will not only benefit our members but other airline flight attendant unions who will follow.
16. Q: Can you share any information on who is at the table for both company and Union?
A: Your Bargaining Committee is at the table as well as a very experienced CUPE National Rep and Senior Researcher/ Economist from CUPE National. We are also joined by our Grievance Committee Chair and administrative staff to support the process of bargaining. We are also having subject matter experts join us when we need them and legal counsel as well. Air Canada has senior management and administrative staff attending on their behalf.
Linked below are two bulletins that we put out last year introducing the Union team that will be at the bargaining table as well as those that will be working behind the scenes:
- 2025 Bargaining Team – July 15, 2024
- Bargaining Committee Update – Union Internal Partners – August 1, 2024
17. Q: Will we be receiving per diem on more flights? Every hour like the pilots?
A: We are looking at expenses and if we want to change to an hourly format or maintain the same with an increase, this is still an active discussion at bargaining. It is an extremely complex process. Once again, our researchers have been hard at work gathering all the information we can on expenses/other airlines/ALPA/government data/taxation information and so much more. The preparation work involved in this round is immense as we want to make informed choices about each aspect of the proposals we have created.
18. Q: Will you prioritize at getting a contract that is good for the membership quickly, rather than letting things drag on?
A: Your Union’s sole role at this stage is to come back to the membership with the best contract we can get, and to have it ratified. There is NO benefit to us delaying or dragging it on.
19. Q: In regard to Reserve, I believe Air Canada is the only Canadian airline which employs a 24 reserve period when you are on reserve. The standard across other airlines is an AM/PM split. I am hoping this is an issue brought forward in bargaining as expecting someone to be on call for an entire days on end is absurd. Just wanted to know if this issue has been or will be brought forward in bargaining as it really needs to be changed in our next contract to align with practices of fellow Canadian Airlines. If they can do it, there’s no reason Air Canada cannot.
A: This is a great question, there are many airlines that still have a 24-hour reserve, and further, they are full reserve, meaning there is no R day or C day like we have. This was something we recently got for Rouge, the C and R days, along with your call in days that are converted to R days, you are on reserve standby for the 16-hours. This is something the members voted on to bring forward. You can look for more information on the items we are bringing forward in our Bargaining Committee Update #6 bulletin.
In Solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee