Your Component Executive had their quarterly meeting in Montreal from September 12th-14th. We have had a great deal of discussion about our next round of bargaining. These discussions have been ongoing, however the more we get into the plans for bargaining, the more inspired and committed to the process we are becoming. A ten-year contract has been hindering us at every turn and we feel that now is our time to make a difference and to right this ship.  It is your turn to be recognized for all that you have done and for your contributions to the success of this company.

As a part of our preparations, we had presentations from two high level media companies. We are becoming very excited about the possibilities of what we can achieve by utilizing creative and impactful social media strategies.

We have harnessed the talents of CUPE National via their research representatives, bargaining experts, communications experts and so many more. Our legal firm has worked closely with us on many grievances and is acutely aware of some of the shortcomings of our contract. They are prepared and very engaged in working with us to create the most powerful path forward. In the future we will be introducing you to all these experts and to your bargaining committee so that you can see who will be representing you and how committed to the process they are.

We started the process of the “Meet and Greet” for members while your Executive was together.  The members who attended had amazing questions and we felt that this method of communication was very effective. We encourage other members to join us on our next “Meet and Greet” session and to come to us with your questions. We encourage members to send us their questions in advance of the session so that we can make the best use of our time. We will answer those questions and will then have a free and open question period.  We talk a lot about the importance of membership engagement internally and we sincerely want to hear from you. If we open our lines of discussion and hear your stories and experiences and questions we are further ahead for our communication and mutual understanding of the important issues ahead of us all in 2025.

Our next ACCEX meeting is in the first week of December. Stay tuned for our bulletin advising when the Meet and Greet will be. We look forward to seeing you there.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

ACCEX will be holding a virtual meet and greet on Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 13:00h EDT.

This meet and greet is open for all members to attend, from both Mainline and Rouge. It will be held via Zoom for 1 hour, and registration is required.  Members can submit questions prior to the meet and greet by replying to this email.

We are open to any questions you may have. Your voice matters.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Vms5F62zRzOPjoWKFP5ODA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

Your Component Executive is providing an update on the CHQ-22-48 COLA hearing that took place on May 31st in Toronto before Arbitrator Eli Gedalof. One element of this hearing and the submissions were about the respective interpretation of the parties. The Company felt the criteria in LOU 35 to enact this clause was not met, and we did.

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:

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.

At the hearing, further, the employer argued that negotiations did take place and that was all that was required by the parties. The employer claimed that the Union did not meaningfully engage with Air Canada in a timely, reasonable manner and that led to the breakdown of negotiations. Let us be very clear about what happened from our perspective. We were there to negotiate cost of living increases so that our members can put food on the table and manage to get by financially. Air Canada offered an extension to the current contract with NO increases for the next two years or minimal increases over the extended period WITH concessions. We did not feel that this was bargaining cost of living increases which was what LOU 35 intended. We were not there to provide the laundry list of concessions that the employer was seeking. That was not the intent, and it was a difficult process. This coupled with the executive compensation that we are all aware of was completely unacceptable. We were left with no choice but to follow the grievance process and seek resolution that way. Among other things our legal counsel argued that there can be no collective agreement right without a remedy. One lesson for first year law students is “no right without a remedy” – meaning that a right protects you only when you have a remedy for its violation. This principle is old enough to have a Latin version: Ubi jus ibi remedium.

We will provide an update on the final decision of the arbitrator as soon as it becomes available. We are sincerely grateful to the members who came to the hearing. It was a pleasure to meet in person and to sit together to listen to the facts and arguments. Thanks to all who came to the hearing and to those of you who were not able to attend, we understand how important this issue is to you. We feel that we were well represented and now await the outcome.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

The draw has taken place and we are happy to announce the following winners of the Nayad 40-ounce Stainless Steel Double wall TRAVELER bottle, pictured above, with the Air Canada Component of CUPE logo proudly displayed.

Abigail French – Local 4098
Anick Duquette – Local 4091
Arim Lee – Local 4092
Ashley Moore – Local 4091
Brigitte Lavoie – Local 4095
Corey Patrick Neale – Local 4098
Darlene Eva Mills – Local 4095
Deavon Connell – Local 4098
Enrico Bressi – Local 4092
Gabriel Turmel – Bussieres – Local 4095
Janie Renaud – Local 4091
Jennifer Li Zhen Huang  – Local 4094
Jennifer Tessier – Local 4091
Jordan Furrow – Local 4094
Lea Desjarlais – Local 4094
Melinda Lin – Local 4094
Mike Perreault – Local 4091
Nathalie Bibault – Local 4092
Nathalie Côté – Local 4092
Nathan Christopher Jones – Local 4092
Nia Francis – Local 4098
Patrik Kochanski – Local 4095
Ravneet Trehan – Local 4092
Salma Sunderji – Local 4095
Samuel Gavillon – Local 4095
Stephanie Ratnakumar – Local 4091
Susan Chen – Local 4094
Sylvia Schaefer – Local 4092
Takeshi Kurokawa – Local 4094
Tatianna McHardy – Local 4092
Trinity Maria Ackermann – Local 4098
William Burnett – Local 4094

Congratulations to the winners, your travel mugs will be shipped to you, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Happy International Flight Attendant Day!

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

Your Air Canada Component of CUPE Executive was scheduled to be in arbitration today, however the hearing has been delayed and we are now going to be in Toronto to greet our Mainline and Rouge crews! Your entire executive, from all 5 bases, will be present in the Comm Centre from 10:00 and will be available throughout the day.  We couldn’t let the day go by without acknowledging our incredible members and your hard work and commitment, so we have put together the following video message to recognize this day as well for all of you we will miss.  Each Local will be having some new Union Pins as well as Bag Tags for you.  Please stop by and say hello.  We look forward to seeing you!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1__e5kNww7ZwwD2VW_nzhrN8aqd1_6UmV/view

Also, if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to enter the draw to win a Nayad 40-ounce Stainless Steel Double wall TRAVELER bottle with the Air Canada Component of CUPE logo proudly displayed.

The draw will close today at 12pm EDT, and the winners will be announced later this afternoon. You can enter to win here:

https://forms.office.com/r/DNV5fnVjMY

Happy International Flight Attendant Day!

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX