Dear Mainline Members,
The Canada Labour Code (CLC) was recently amended to require federally regulated employers, including Air Canada, to provide employees with ten (10) days of paid sick leave per calendar year (pro-rated for partial years of service).
While the Collective Agreement already requires Air Canada to provide twelve (12) “paid” sick days per year, the Union has identified a problem regarding the use of sick days on regular days off (RDOs). In particular, if a member is unable to work due to sickness on an RDO, Air Canada deducts a day from the member’s paid sick day bank but does not provide any payment to them. As a result, members may lose several of their CLC sick days without being paid for them. The Union has filed a policy grievance alleging that this practice violates the new paid sick day requirements in the CLC. Click HERE to view the grievance form.
To help prepare for the hearing of the grievance, the Union is seeking examples from members who have been unable to work due to sickness on an RDO and had a day deducted from their paid sick day bank without payment.
We are asking members to please let us know if this happened to you in 2022, 2023, and/or 2024. If so, please send an email to i.jovic@accomponent.ca ensuring the policy grievance number “CHQ-24-18” is in the subject line, with the following information:
- The date(s) on which you took sick leave on scheduled RDOs in 2022, 2023, and/or 2024.
- The number of days in your sick leave bank at the beginning of the relevant calendar year(s).
- The number of sick days used in the relevant calendar year(s) before taking sick leave on an RDO.
- If available, a copy of your block schedule and sick leave records for the relevant dates.
- Your employee number and where you are based.
If you cannot answer all of these questions, please respond with as much information as you can – any information that you can provide will assist the Union in pursuing this grievance.
Should we determine that your evidence supports our policy grievance, we will send the information to your local union office for individual or group grievance filing to be attached to our policy grievance.
If you have any questions regarding this policy grievance and the information request, please email i.jovic@accomponent.ca, and once again, please include the policy grievance number “CHQ-24-18” in the subject line.
In Solidarity,
Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE