Reserve Committee Archives - Page 2 of 5

Reserve Committee – Spring 2022 Update

Lisa Raymond on April 7, 2022

It is an exciting time for all of us as we see growth in our flying schedule and accordingly in the number of newly hired Flight Attendants and new Service Directors. We would like to formally welcome you all to your respective new positions.

In collaboration with your Component Executive this past month we have updated the Reserve Handbook for your benefit. Click HERE to view the updated handbook.

This past month we also held multiple Zoom reserve seminars for the purpose of educating our members systemwide and they were well received by the members in attendance. We intend to run more of these seminars in future months and will provide advance notice of them for your benefit.

We would also like to take the time to introduce the first of a series of educational bulletins aimed at the reserve experience. This addresses the sequence in which flying is awarded, one of the more frequently asked questions we have gotten from the reserve membership in recent days:

Open Flying Award Sequence
The following explanation is based on the Collective Agreement rules provided in B8.22. Please note that the Union is aware that a Crew Scheduler recently posted information on Yammer in response to some reserve questions. However, the Union in no way is accepting the Company’s position as written on Yammer, and always reserves the right to file grievances if it is found that a violation of the Collective Agreement has taken place. Please always check with your Local Union office or Reserve Committee if unsure of your rights or if information provided to you by a Company representative is accurate or not.

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Reserve is the 4^th step of the award sequence:

Open Flying Award sequence (B7.04)
1. Blockholder Make-Up/Reserve Preselect
2. Reassignment
3. VE/100 Hours
4. Reserve
5. Draft — Deadhead Crew
6. Draft Sequence

Once Crew Scheduling reaches reserve in the order of assignment the following criteria are considered for reserve assignment:

Reserve Assignment Criteria (B8.22)
1. Time Balance (B8.22.01.03)
2. Restrictions (i.e. crew rest, whether an assignment will over project a reserve resulting in a drop of a preselect pairing)
3. Language requirement
4. Days available before days off

Call-In Reserves
When required to contact Crew Scheduling to confirm your assignment at call-in time (2000-2300 in your home base’s time zone), reserves must always CALL Crew Scheduling. Do not accept assignments via globe notification at any time. Always call in to speak with a Crew Scheduler as calls are recorded and there will be a record of what was discussed in case there are any issues with an assignment. The Collective Agreement is clearly worded to include the word “Call” in “Call-In Reserve”. Please always preserve your rights and use your cellphone to make the “call” to Crew Scheduling at call-in time.

If Crew Scheduling does not have sufficient time to follow the award sequence, they immediately begin “Airport Move-Up”, which is outlined in the Collective Agreement in B8.32 as follows:

Airport Move-Up
If insufficient notice makes the draft process in Article B9.03 impractical, flight coverage will be provided through the move-up of total or partial crews in reverse order of seniority. The move-up will be done in a manner which minimizes the disruption to subsequent crews, and will occur in the following sequence:

I. Crews from ANOTHER base to HOME BASE ONLY on scheduled duty days ONLY.
II. Crews at their Home Base on scheduled duty days.
III. Crews at their Home Base INTO scheduled days off.

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You may have noticed that of the many criteria that go into a reserve assignment, the single most notable criterion missing is seniority, and that’s because seniority does not govern any award on reserve with the exception of the first day of the block month where no other tie-breaking criteria exist between reserves and also with the exception of the daily reserve pre-select awards (which is completed in Step 1 in the Open Flying Award sequence mentioned above).

If you believe that a pairing has been awarded out of sequence, you will need to reach out to your Local Union Officers to assist. We hope this helps elucidate the reserve award process for everyone. We will gladly accept suggestions for future topics at reserve@accomponent.ca and welcome any of your reserve-related questions as always. We look forward to hearing from you!

In solidarity,

Jesse Matthews & Chanelle Gauthier-Berthelet
Co-Chairs, Component Reserve Committee

Updated Reserve Handbook

Lisa Raymond on November 30, 2021

We would like to take this time to welcome everyone back to flying after considerable time away. It is truly wonderful to see so many familiar faces once again! A warm welcome also to all of the members who have recently completed flow through to mainline.

For many of our members it is either their first time flying on reserve at mainline or it has been a long time since last doing so. After consulting with the membership at large we have updated the Reserve Handbook to provide answers for some of the more common inquiries that we have received in recent days. Click HERE to view the updated handbook.

One of the most notable parts of the update relates to differentiating between the two main types of releases and Leaves of Absence (LOAs), including how each one of the three affects scheduling and pay. This is clarified in the Reserve Handbook on Pages 4 and 5 under Call-In “C” Days, Ready Reserve “R” Days, and Minimum Monthly Guarantee (MMG). We hope going forward that this will remove any doubt, but please feel free to reach out as always if any further clarification is needed.

Your Component Reserve Committee can be reached at reserve@accomponent.ca for all of your reserve-related questions. It is our honour and privilege to be of service to you and enrich your understanding; please let us know how we can help and how we can continue to improve in assisting all of our reserve members.

In solidarity,

Jesse Matthews & Annie Robichaud
Co-Chairs, Component Reserve Committee

Reserve Handbook

Lisa Raymond on March 4, 2021

As many of you have not flown reserve in several years, we felt it was a good time to issue a refresher with the Reserve Handbook and its updates.

Please click HERE to view the newly updated Reserve Handbook.

As always please reach out to me or to your local office if you need further clarity or have any questions.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE

Voluntary Extension and Reserve

Lisa Raymond on June 17, 2020

(This applies to Air Canada Mainline only)

The Union has been contacted regarding specifics around the voluntary extension process when on reserve.

We have compiled some information below to help make this process easier for you to understand and follow.

Should a reserve member wish to volunteer for voluntary extension, one of these 3 conditions must be met:
• The Maximum Monthly Limitation (80 or 85 hours) has been reached;
• No Reserve availability days remaining in the month (ie C or R days); or
• You have been released pursuant to Article B8.11.01.

B8.11.01 An employee who, at the termination of his/her last duty period, has accumulated seventy-seven (77) or more hours of flight time credits, and has at least two (2) scheduled reserve duty days remaining will, at his/her OPTION, be released from further reserve duty in that month provided s/he cannot be assigned at that time. If s/he is assigned a pairing s/he will be released on those reserve duty days not involved in the assignment. The option to decline such pre-assignment as per B8.28 does not apply.

You cannot volunteer for VE on inviolate days off (GDO’s). You can only volunteer on non-inviolate days off (RDO’s).

Any hours flown on voluntary extension will be paid over and above your MMG (75 hours).

Reserve blockholders can forfeit up to 3 non-inviolate days off (RDO’s) for VE but you must still maintain a minimum of 10 days off per month.

Reserves can volunteer for a pairing that operates on an overlap into reserve days in the next month. However, hours flown into reserve days in your next reserve block month will be absorbed within your MMG and will not be paid over and above your 75-hour MMG.

When operating a pairing on voluntary extension that overlaps from one reserve month into another reserve month, your maximum monthly limitation in the second reserve month does NOT get extended to 100 hours. This also applies if operating a VE pairing on an overlap from a regular block month into an RSV block month.

If you have any questions with regards to the Voluntary Extension process or other reserve concerns, please reach out to your local or to reserve@accomponent.ca.

In Solidarity,

Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE

Reserve Rules Regarding Days Off

Lisa Raymond on August 15, 2019

Please note these rules are specific to Air Canada Mainline Reserve Members

Article B8 in our Collective Agreement speaks to the Reserve rules regarding non-inviolate and inviolate days off.

We have recently had an issue in which a member on reserve was asked to work into a Guaranteed Day Off. We have filed a grievance. In the spirit of trying to foster a strong knowledge base for our members we wanted to give a small backgrounder on Guaranteed Days off while on reserve status.

A Guaranteed Day Off (a.k.a. inviolate day) is just that, a guaranteed day in which you can have some stability in your schedule and set aside these days for important things like doctor’s appointments.

We negotiated new language for Regular Days Off (a.k.a. non inviolate day) in our last round of bargaining. This included a premium for working into your RDO’s because we felt that days off were important. Generally speaking, when there is a premium paid, employers face a deterrent.

We did NOT negotiate a premium for GDO’s because they are inviolate and not to be flown on. There are limited circumstances in which you may be required to work into a GDO.

In IRROPS situations things may happen that are out of the company’s control. On a GDO, in an IRROPS situation, you may be required to operate back to home base after a layover into a GDO. This typically happens when one books crew rest, flight cancellation and delays causing a misconnection away from base.

The information below is an excerpt from the Reserve Handbook. If you do not have a copy of the Reserve Handbook you can find it “HERE“.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are not sure what your rights are, we encourage you to contact your Reserve Committee at reserve@accomponent.ca, contact your Local Union office by clicking “Here“ or reach out to 247@accomponent.ca. It is a strong base of knowledge that will give us all confidence in voicing our rights. We sincerely believe that knowledge is power.

Jesse Matthews & Chanelle Gauthier
Co-Chairs, Reserve Committee

Reserve Committee – Spring 2022 Update

Updated Reserve Handbook

Reserve Handbook

Voluntary Extension and Reserve

Reserve Rules Regarding Days Off

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Air Canada Component of CUPE

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