We wanted to send out a quick update on a few issues that have come to light recently:
Hong Kong and Testing
The Company has advised the Union of the following:
In addition to on-site testing at the Asia World Expo in HKG on arrival, effective 29 July 2020 all aircrew who arrive in HKG must have tested negative for COVID-19 within the 48 hours prior to boarding the flight to HKG from Canada.
All aircrew who are awarded an HKG flight will be scheduled by Crew Scheduling to have a COVID-19 test completed at an Air Canada YVR Medical Office at 5530 Miller Road in Richmond. Operating crew will be contacted by Crew Scheduling and advised of the testing appointment time.
The appointment will take approximately 15 min. All affected crew will receive 3 hours pay for the testing.
Please note, if you have been scheduled a Hong Kong cycle, you will have a Globe message with further information, we encourage you to reach out if you have any concerns or questions.
Component Officers Meet and Greet
Your Component Officers will be hosting a live webinar on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 16:00 EDT for one hour. The webinar will be hosted on Zoom and can be accessed through a computer, tablet, or smart phone. There will also be an audio-only option available through telephone dial-in.
The Webinar is open to any of our members that wish to participate, active or inactive, Mainline or Rouge.
As the capacity of the webinar will be 500 people, we will be asking those of you interested in participating to register in advance. If the demand is greater than 500, we will hold further webinars in the near future to ensure that everyone is able to participate. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. To register go to:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aXEuQpyARjS3qwsPtc0Obg
We encourage you to send your questions in ahead of time so that we can make the hour as productive as possible. Please send them to contact@accomponent.ca.
As we are having a Component Executive meeting in the near future, we wanted to ensure that our commitment to stay in touch was maintained. As you may be aware, in the past we had meet and greet sessions planned around the time of the Component Executive meetings. We want to continue to hear from the membership about the issues that concern them. We have received great feedback from the members on this and we are hoping that the webinar proves to be well received and a welcome addition to our communication strategy.
Wearing Face Coverings Masks Onboard
Your Union has received much feedback on face coverings/ masks onboard the aircraft. We have raised the issues with the company, and in consultation, you will see new announcements coming out shortly. The new announcements, that will be made prior to meal service as well as prior to pick up, are meant to remind passengers that face coverings must be worn and are mandatory while cabin crew are in their presence. Many of you have reached out on this, filed concerns and reached out directly to your managers. Please continue to share these important concerns as we all find ways to move through our new reality.
Mandatory temperature screening for crew effective July 30, 2020
As recently advised on July 24, 2020 in the IFS News Bulletin, mandatory temperature screening will commence July 30, 2020 anytime you go through security in YVR, YYC, YYZ and YUL. More information came out about this from the employer, please ensure you have read it clearly, and if you have any concerns or questions, please reach out. As noted in a previous bulletin this temperature screening will be expanded to include the next 11 busiest airports in Canada through the months of August and September. We will continue to monitor this carefully and will be continuing to communicate directly with Transport Canada about our concerns. Should you have any questions or concerns about this please let us know. We want to make sure that you are as well informed as we are.
In solidarity,
