Passenger safety and air quality on airlines are critical issues for all

The previous federal government’s decision to allow Canadian airline carriers to fly with fewer flight attendants is a threat to passenger safety. On most aircraft, passengers and crew can be exposed to toxic fumes in the cabin. These health and safety risks must be eliminated. Sign the petition to put pressure on the Liberal government to act now.

On August 1^st 2015, Transport Canada allowed Canadian carriers to operate with a ratio of one flight attendant to 50 passenger seats (1:50 ratio), instead of the safety-proven 1:40 ratio. This has resulted in reduced crew on many flights, despite Transport Canada officials admitting that the new ratio does not provide an equivalent level of safety. In fact, all the available evidence shows that the 1:50 ratio lowers passenger safety.

Transport Canada’s decision to allow the 1:50 is based on a 2003 risk assessment that was biased, incomplete, and veiled in secrecy. Because of this, CUPE calls on the government to restore the 1:40 ratio, at least until Transport Canada conducts a new risk assessment of the 1:50 ratio in a fully transparent way. Key stakeholders must be involved in the process, and the risk assessment must be made available to the public. The Standing Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN) should oversee any review of the ratio, including a new risk assessment.

During the last federal election campaign, the Liberals seemed to agree. CUPE’s Airline Division asked the Liberal Party of Canada if they supported scrapping the new 1:50 regulation and returning to the safety-proven 1:40 ratio. The Liberals committed to consult “stakeholders and experts” on the issue, “all the while keeping the safety of all Canadians as a top priority.”

Toxic fumes on aircraft

Airline passengers and crew can be exposed to toxic fumes when engine lubricants and other chemicals enter the cabin through the air pressurization process.

Even though many airlines continue to deny it, there is significant evidence showing exposure to toxic fumes is a hazard and can lead to the following symptoms while on board: irritation of eyes, nose and upper airways, cough, breathing difficulties, tightness in chest, blurred or tunnel vision, headache or light headedness, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, nausea, and vomiting. Longer term effects include damage to the respiratory and central nervous system, impaired memory and cognitive function, weakened immunity, cardiovascular disorders and possibly cancers.

The only way to totally ensure that flight attendants and passengers are not being exposed to toxic fumes is to fit aircraft with filtration systems that eliminate any potential air contamination, or to actually change the way pressurized air is brought into the cabin when aircraft are designed. Transport Canada regulations should be changed accordingly in order to protect the health of passengers and crew.

During the last federal election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada committed “to ensuring that all Canadians have a safe and healthy working environment through evidence-based measures and proper consultation with stakeholders and experts.”

Therefore, the federal government must act immediately to bring together representatives from the airline industry, the medical and scientific communities, and airline unions, to identify and recommend all possible regulatory options to eliminate the harmful effects of toxic fumes.

But you can do your part too.

Sign the petition, by clicking the link below, to keep the Liberals accountable on these important health and safety issues.

https://cupe.ca/sign-petition-safety-and-air-quality-airlines-must-be-improved

For more information, consult CUPE’s 1:50 and air quality fact sheets.

This year the Component Agendas will not be stuffed in the mail folders and instead, for those who would like one, they will be available for pick up from your Local offices, at the addresses listed below, beginning on Monday, December 16, 2019.
Local 4091 – Montreal
975 boul. Roméo Vachon Nord
Bureau 465
Dorval, QC  H4Y 1H1
Phone: 514-422-2235

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Local 4092 – Toronto
Toronto Pearson Int’l Airport
Terminal 1 Service Level
Rm EBS 116
Mississauga, ON  L5P 1B4
Phone : 905-676-4293

– – –

Local 4094 – Vancouver
6001 Grant McConachie Way
Richmond, BC  V7B 1K3
Phone: 604-295-4259

– – –

Local 4095 – Calgary
Calgary International Airport
2000 Airport Road NE
Departures Level –
between outside doors 7 & 8
Calgary, AB  T2E 6W5
Phone: 403-221-2625

– – –

Local 4098 – Rouge
Toronto Pearson Int’l Airport
Terminal 1, Level 2, GA2022
Mississauga, ON  L5P 1B4
Phone:  905-678-6330

Click HERE to access a PDF version of the information documents included in the Agenda, which can be saved on your phone.

In solidarity,

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

International Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10th.  It commemorates the day, in 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all.  It is a ground-breaking document declaring the fundamental rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political opinion, nationality, property, birth or other status.

All people are equal and are entitled to the same human rights, and we must challenge the notion that certain groups matter more than others.

Let’s stand up for equality, justice and human dignity!

In solidarity,

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the horrific events at L’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, when a gunman entered the school, segregated the female students from the male students and began firing at the female engineering students.

On that day, December 6, 1989, 14 young women lost their lives to violence. The event has become known as the Montreal Massacre and is symbolic of the fight to end violence against women. In 1991, Canada’s Parliament declared December 6 a National Day of Mourning and the National Day to End Violence Against Women.

Today we mourn the victims of that tragic day:
Genevieve Bergeron | 21
Helene Colgan | 23
Nathalie Croteau | 23
Barbara Daigneault | 22
Anne-Marie Edward | 21
Maud Haviernick | 29
Barbara Maria Klucznik | 31
Maryse Laganiere | 25 was a CUPE member
Maryse Leclair | 23
Anne-Marie Lemay | 27
Sonia Pelletier | 28
Michele Richard | 21
Annie St-Arneault | 23
Annie Turcotte | 21

While we take this day to remember what happened in Montreal, and commemorate the lives of all women who have been victims of gender based violence, we must continue to work to eliminate violence against women.

 

In solidarity,