As a follow up to the bulletin we issued on February 16, 2022, regarding this grievance (click HERE to view the bulletin), the Union would like to advise you that it has appealed the grievance to the last step of the grievance process, which is Arbitration.  The Union has been actively lobbying for a settlement on an ongoing basis (at Level 2 and at mediation). Despite this fact, we were not able to reach a resolution.

The Union believes the company is in violation of Article 5.06.01 by not recognizing our Rouge colleagues with 5 years of completed service, who have flown through to mainline, for the purposes of SD pay.  They should be paid Level II SD pay.

5.06.01 Where a Flight Attendant moves into the In-Charge classification, s/he will be placed in LEVEL I of the Purser wage scale, as applicable with the following exception:

EXCEPTION: Flight Attendants with more than five (5) years of completed service will be placed in Level II.

Once a date has been confirmed for arbitration, we will communicate it to you.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE

As stated in our last bulletin issued on June 13, 2022, the Union filed policy grievances at both Mainline (CHQ-22-48) and Rouge (CHQ-rouge-22-16) regarding cost of living increases. Click HERE to view the bulletin.

For the past 25 years, inflation has been close to 2 percent per year. Wage increases in the 10-year agreement are set at 2% annually. The steady and low rate of inflation changed suddenly in 2021: inflation increased rapidly beyond 2 percent beginning in early 2021. In 2022, the rate of inflation reached a near 40 year high, with inflation above 8%.  Like many Canadians, Cabin Personnel have been distressed. Lower-income workers, including more junior Cabin Personnel, are particularly impacted by price hikes caused by inflation because they spend a larger proportion of their income on essential high increase items like food and gas.

Our mainline grievance was denied at level 2 and has now been scheduled for mediation on November 17, 2022 with our Chief Arbitrator/Mediator William Kaplan.

Our Rouge grievance was denied at level 2 and at the Quarterly grievance review and has now been appealed to arbitration.

We will continue to provide updates as we move through the grievance process.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE

The Union has filed a policy grievance (click HERE to view) on the Company’s imposition of the Special Authorization process for members who were submitting prescription claims through Claim Secure.  We believe this process creates a burden on the membership.  Members find themselves in a difficult position when they go to their pharmacy and are told the drug they require is not covered. This is a drug that was prescribed by their personal physician and is deemed to be required for their specific condition. After they are aware of this denial, members must then secure a second appointment with their physician to have them fill out the special authorization form.  They must pay out of pocket again for this paperwork to be completed.  Following this laborious process, they are advised that their claim is denied a second time. In our view this is not acceptable and is not aligned with the Collective Agreement language is Article 22 which states:

22.02 SUPPLEMENTAL HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN II: The Company will pay 100% of the Air Canada Supplementary Health Insurance Plan II.

We are looking for examples and scenarios to support our grievance and have created a survey to collect the information. Please CLICK HERE to access the survey:

We hope to hear from you and truly appreciate your assistance with this very important matter. Your participation and attention to this can go a long way to help us remedy the situation and ensure that the Collective Agreement language is respected.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE

A scope clause is part of a contract between a major airline and a trade union.  The importance of a scope clause in a Collective Agreement cannot be understated as its purpose is to protect bargaining unit work.  Article 2 of the Collective Agreement outlines specific details of our scope agreement.

It has recently come to the Union’s attention that Air Canada is violating our scope clause, specifically, Article 2.04.05.01 by operating more than 30 narrow body aircraft at Air Canada rouge.

The purpose of Article 2.04.05 is to limit the amount of aircraft that can be operated at rouge.  Click here (CHQ-22-73) to see the grievance form.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the above noted matter.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE

The cost of living is increasing and it has outpaced the annual Cabin Personnel wage increases of 2% prescribed by the Collective Agreement.

LOU 35 requires the Company to negotiate wage increases (above the annual 2% wage increase), where the consumer price index of the previous year exceeds the wage increases by more than 1%.  In other words, whenever the consumer price index is more than 3%, the Parties are required to negotiate wage increases to address and remedy the disparity between wages and inflation.

In late March 2022, we advised the Company that LOU 35 had been triggered and that we should meet to negotiate wage increases.  Since the Company disagrees that LOU 35 has been triggered and refuses to negotiate the wage increase we are seeking, we have filed a grievance.

You will be able to find the Mainline policy grievance CHQ-22-48 HERE, and the Rouge policy grievance CHQ-rouge-22-16 HERE.

We will keep all members appraised as we move through the process.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE