The 2015-2025 agreement included two ‘reopeners’ – opportunities to bargain changes to the Collective Agreement. The re-opener language of the agreement contemplated that the Parties would try to negotiate a renewal and if an agreement was not achieved, the dispute would be referred to interest arbitration. Interest arbitration is a process in which an arbitrator determines what the Parties would have negotiated if a deal had been reached. The interest arbitration process agreed to in the 2015-2025 agreement, however, prohibits the arbitrator from awarding certain types of changes, for example, wage increases, allowances, job security, flow though, etc. This agreement further prohibits the arbitrator from awarding proposals that would increase Air Canada Mainline’s overall cost and it restricts them from awarding proposals that would increase Rouge’s unless certain conditions are met. In other words, the reopeners are quite limited, and not suitable to a high inflation environment, which obviously was not contemplated.

The first reopener took place following the expiry of the 2015-2019 Collective Agreement.  Arbitrator Ready’s interest arbitration award was issued in 2022.

The Parties have just completed the interest arbitration for the second reopener, following the expiry of the 2019-2022 Collective Agreement. The arbitration took place on October 23, 2023 before Arbitrator Eli Gedalof. We anticipate receiving the Arbitrator’s decision in the coming months.

In advance of the arbitration, the Parties were required to table interest arbitration proposals, and the proposals were required to comply with the limitations imposed by the Collective Agreement, described above.

The Union proposed the following:

Mainline 
1. Deadhead rescheduling: Permitting cabin personnel to modify deadhead flights that Air Canada assigns to them, subject to seat availability (proposed Article 19.13).

2. Onboard crew rest: Confirming that onboard crew rest entitlements provided for in letters of understanding 18 and 22 are based on the duration of the scheduled “or re-forecast” duty day, rather than only the scheduled duty day (Articles L18 and 22).

3. Galley bid position: Extending the ability for cabin personnel to bid for the “galley” position on flights, from certain Boeing 777 aircraft to all wide-body aircraft (Article B4.02.01.01).

As Mainline’s costs can’t increase pursuant to the re-opener terms, the Union’s Mainline proposals were no cost proposals.

Rouge
1. Parking: Providing cabin personnel with airport parking passes (proposed Article L55.08.07).

2. Commission for onboard sales: Providing cabin personnel with a commission for onboard sales, to be divided equally between all operating crew members (proposed Article L55.07.07).

3. Draft procedure: Providing cabin personnel with credit protection when drafted from a scheduled pairing equal to the greater of the pairing dropped or the pairing operated and reinforcing the prohibition on drafting on “untouchable days off” (Article L55.14.12.01).

4. Prone rest: Ensuring that cabin personnel receive at least eight hours of prone rest at layover hotels (proposed Article L55.15.02.01).

5. Reassignment: Providing cabin personnel with compensation when subject to reassignment that adds “the value of the originally scheduled pairing” to the methods for calculating such compensation (Article L55.15.07).

The Rouge proposals are reasonable and justifiable in light of comparators and cost of living increases.

The Company proposed the following:

Mainline
1. Special Assignments: Lengthening the term of all special assignments from one year to three, changing the ineligibility period, and other changes to the special assignment system.

2. LOU 1: In-Charge – Filling of Vacancies: Air Canada proposed to entirely eliminate seniority from the service director hiring requirements. It did so based on a bald and offensive allegation that senior flight attendants and current service directors do not have “the skills, ability, and qualifications required to successfully perform the role of Service Director”. It proposed to grant itself discretion to select service directors and to establish a new hiring process.

3. Award Sequence:  Air Canada proposed to change the award sequence to permit it to use the reserve assignment procedure “at any time in the award sequence at Air Canada’s discretion”. In other words, Air Canada has sought the right to bypass regular blockholders who are interested and available to perform the required flying, even when there is no operational need to do so. In practice, Air Canada will always choose to award flying to the cabin crew member with the lower pay entitlement.

4. Pre/Post Duty Period: Air Canada proposed to amend Article B5.02.01 to specify that Service Directors’ ground duty time be excluded from both duty period limitations and the calculations of guarantees and flight time limitations if they are required to report for duty earlier than the rest of their crew.  It proposed to reduce the entitlements to Service Directors.

5. Maximum Monthly Limitation: Air Canada proposed to make four main changes to the MML rule in article B5.01.01: permitting it to (1) increase the MML to a number between 80 and 85 hours, instead of 85 in all cases; (2) increase the MML in all months in a year, instead of four months; (3) increase the MML by 25 hours in a year, instead of 20; and (4) not provide an estimate to the Union of the months for which the MML will be increased.

6. LOU 46: B-777: Air Canada proposed to make one change to LOU 46: removing its obligation to provide any oxygen bottles in the crew rest unit to cabin personnel on such flights.

7. Printed Bid Packages: Air Canada proposed to remove any entitlement for the Union or its members to receive printed bid materials.

The Union opposed these seven concessionary proposals. In the previous interest arbitration re-opener on the heels for the pandemic, Air Canada had tabled only four proposals, including an MML-related concession, and a concessionary amendment to the Award Sequence. The arbitrator from the previous round declined to award both. This round, despite the airline being in a much stronger financial position and employees faced with increased costs of living, Air Canada tabled seven concessionary proposals, many of which have been rejected by the Union and its members in previous rounds. As indicated, it again table concessionary MML and Award Sequence proposals. The Union strongly opposes any concessions and made its position very clear to Arbitrator Gedalof. Financial analysis from an expert witness was filed in support of the Union’s position.

The Company did not table any Rouge proposals.

We await Arbitrator Gedalof’s award and will update you when we know the outcome of the interest arbitration.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

This bulletin has been provided to update the membership on the status of the Contract Seminars. Bulletins have been sent out previously regarding the seminar locations, dates, and times.

https://accomponent.ca/november-2023-contract-seminars-base-wide-seminaires-de-contrats-a-lechelle-de-la-base/

In the interest of opening them up to more attendees, we have decided to provide the meetings virtually. That way, more members can attend on any of the four dates.

We encourage all members to make the time to attend. We hope that this new format will encourage you to do so. As we did previously, we ask that members who will be attending fill out the form in the link below:

https://forms.office.com/r/eenb0riT7q

We will be providing more information such as the link to the webinars at each base. We truly look forward to seeing you all there. If you have questions, please write to us at contact@accomponent.ca.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

As you may be aware, CUPE National communications, CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn’s “thoughts”, and CUPE Local 3096’s tweets have recently been circulating. These were relating to perspectives on the humanitarian crisis which our crews saw front and centre going into Tel Aviv.  We felt it paramount that we reiterate our structure and full autonomy from the National Union and its locals.

CUPE Ontario is a Division of CUPE National. CUPE locals can choose to affiliate with CUPE Ontario or not.  The decision lies with individual locals. This is unlike our relationship with CUPE National who is our bargaining agent and where your dues go.

CUPE Ontario and its operations are based on affiliation fees paid by locals who choose to affiliate themselves. Your Air Canada Component of CUPE is not affiliated to CUPE Ontario and has never provided funding in any regard to them. We affiliate with the Airline Division of CUPE. This affiliation is mutually beneficial and is a good platform with which to bring all airline locals together.

CUPE Local 3906, who represent academic workers at McMaster University, is a CUPE local to which the Air Canada Component has no affiliation whatsoever. CUPE National did not consult, discuss, or involve us in their decisions and public stance on what has happened in the Middle East. The same can be said for CUPE Ontario.

We strongly oppose any viewpoint that weighs in on the political aspects of this crisis. We sincerely hope that peace and stability can be restored to the region.  We believe that the images circulating and the online discussions taking place take away from the fundamental role of a Labour Union.  It is our job to defend employee’s rights and raise up the working class.  We are not here to engage in hate speech or comments that are inflammatory and only perpetuate further conflict.  What we have seen is appalling and concerning.  Many of you have reached out with valid concerns and speak about the impact that this is having on your personal well being. Some members report a strong need to distance themselves from these very public statements.

We want to assure you; we have written to our national union and provided our very frank and raw feedback.  We have expressed the concerns of our own and those of our members who wrote passionate and sincere emails about how this has impacted them.

In response we received the following form letter from CUPE National:

Thank you for reaching out to us and expressing your concerns about comments made by some CUPE members recently on the situation in Palestine and Israel. We acknowledge the harm that has been done to many of our members, to the goodwill our union has built within our communities, and to our reputation.

Ill-intentioned people created a fake image using CUPE’s branding, and it was shared broadly on social media. Although we contacted “X” (formerly known as Twitter) to have this horrible image taken down, we were not able to control its spread. The post included a quote from a CUPE local account that was taken out of context. The quote has been removed since, but the harm was done.

While there is no formal process for members to file a complaint against other locals or divisions within the union, rest assured that the National President has spoken to leaders about their posts and has shared the concerns raised by many of our members.

CUPE’s statement (https://cupe.ca/cupe-statement-violence-palestine-and-israel) condemns the horrific acts committed by Hamas and in no way supports them. CUPE also condemns the full siege that has now been declared on Gaza by Israel. CUPE has always called for processes aimed at genuine peace and justice in the region.

We apologize for how things unfolded in the past few days and commit to repairing and rebuilding our solidarity.

Their carefully worded form letter does not go far enough and clearly does not address the core of our issues. It does not even come close to mitigating what has happened or provide assurances for our very eloquent members. Your Component and Local executives will be at the CUPE National Convention in two weeks. We assure you that we will insist that your voices are heard and will expect that in future, unacceptable and hateful commentary will be dealt with. Those who created and dispersed this commentary must be held accountable.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX

Many of our members have reached out regarding some statements put out by CUPE Local 3906 and the CUPE Ontario President. Considering these statements, we want to be very clear that they do not reflect the views of the Air Canada Component of CUPE or any of its locals. The Component has shared the concerns brought forward with CUPE National, and will continue to do so as they come in. We understand that the situation is complex. The loss of human life and the conflict is undeniably a humanitarian crisis. Our hearts go out to those who are facing the realities of this, and we mourn for every life lost.

We believe in promoting understanding, compassion, and respect for diverse perspectives. Now more than ever, it is crucial for us to come together as a union and support one another. Let us focus on fostering understanding, empathy, and unity among our members. We remain committed to serving the best interests of our members.

In these difficult times, we encourage our members to reach out for support to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by CUPE and Air Canada. EAP is a valuable resource that offers confidential counseling services, support, and resources to help navigate through challenging times.

Please reach out to your Union at anytime for support, we are here for each of you, and will continue represent all members.

In solidarity,

Your ACCEX