Pre-Select of Open Flying for Reserves at Mainline
After discussions with the Company today, the Union has been made aware that there has been some larger scheduling adjustments that will cause a greater influx of Mainline Open Time. We wanted to remind all members on reserve about the options to pre-select and how a pre-select pairing is viewed.
The following language will assist you in placing your bid for Open Flying:
B8.26 OPEN FLYING BID: A Reserve Blockholder will be eligible to bid for open pairings in accordance with Article B7 subject to the following.
B8.26.01 Open flying bids will be accepted in written form only by the bidder or by proxy. Bids to the Crew Resource Centre will not be accepted by telephone.
B8.26.02 S/he will be eligible to bid for known open flying prior to the start of each block month.
B8.26.03 The bid deadline each month will be 1000 hours the day prior to the start of each month.
B8.26.04 S/he will only be awarded one (1) open pairing at this award. Such award will be based on seniority, language and classification.
B8.26.05 S/he will be eligible to bid and be awarded open pairings subsequently during the daily awards for any open pairing.
B8.26.06 The bid deadline each day will be 1000 hours for flights departing the next day.
B8.26.07 Any awarded open pairing must depart on the first day of a reserve duty day pattern.
B8.26.08 If the awarded pairing is on his/her non-inviolate days off in accordance with B8.09, then the pairing must terminate at Home Base in time for legal crew rest prior to the start of his/her next scheduled reserve duty day.
NOTE: The Crew Resource Centre may waive this restriction at their option and allow the award of an open pairing, even if it interferes with the start of the next scheduled reserve duty day.
B8.26.09 An open pairing once awarded to a Reserve Blockholder will not subsequently be changed except in the event of an irregular operation caused by cancellation, consolidation, substitution, misconnection, overprojection or illegality at Home Base. The employee involved will revert to the reserve status s/he was scheduled to hold had s/he not been awarded the pairing.
B8.26.10 The Reserve Blockholder must be legal in all respects in order to be awarded an open flight.
B8.26.11 If an employee is drafted on a non-inviolate day off prior to an awarded open flight and such draft interferes with the awarded open flight then the draft will take precedence and the awarded open flight will be dropped.
B8.26.12 S/he will not be pay protected under B10.01 nor will s/he be eligible to flight time credits under B7.06. S/he will receive payment for the scheduled or actual flight time credits of the awarded pairing only if s/he operates that pairing.
Article B8.26.09 is clear on when the company can remove a reserve. Once awarded an open pairing, it cannot be taken away unless an irregular operation (outlined in Article B8.26.09 above) occurs. You would then revert to the reserve status you were originally scheduled to have.
Crew scheduling may not change a pre-select to accommodate another flight attendant’s preference for draft, 100 hours, etc.
Please report ANY and ALL awarded open flights (pre-selects) that have had changes, or when you have been removed from the pairing as a whole or any flight within the pre-selected pairing.
Please provide full details along with the following information:
1. The time your assignment was changed and the time you were notified;
2. When and/or where the change occurred (mid pairing / prior to check in / on layover / etc);
3. Who notified you of the change;
4. Why did the change happen?
5. Employee Name, Employee Number and pairing details.
Please email all documentation to reserve@accomponent.ca.
Although the above language is clear, there can be many factors that cause a legal removal. Always confirm with the scheduler the reason for removal.
Mainline April 2019 Block Awards
The Company advised there were multiple flights that were renumbered and when doing so placed the member on reassignment. This is being addressed and members schedules will be corrected if the only change was a renumbering of the flight.
Reassignment for Rouge Members
Rouge Reassignment
If you are no longer required for your pairing or part of your pairing, you will be given another assignment or revert to standby/reserve status for the calendar days involved in your originally blocked pairing. You will be paid the greater of: four hours per reserve day or the value of the re-assigned pairing. This is outlined in Article L55.15.07 below:
L55.15.07 Reassignment — Employees who are no longer required for a pairing or part of a pairing shall be given another assignment or will revert to standby status for any calendar day involved in the original blocked pairing. Employees who are reassigned to standby duty shall complete their standby duty within the originally blocked pairing day(s).
Employees who are converted to standby status shall receive the greater of four (4) hours pay per Article [standby premium article] or the value of the re-assigned pairing.
For example, if you are removed from a 5-day pairing, you may be converted to a 5-day stretch of reserve. You will be paid at least 20 hours for the five days of reserve.
Rouge Monthly Pay Guarantee
If you are available for duty for the entire month, you will receive a guarantee of seventy-five hours of pay for the month even if you end up working less hours. This is outlined in Article L55.06.02 below:
L55.06.02 Monthly Pay Guarantee — Employees who are available for duty for an entire month shall receive a monthly pay guarantee of seventy-five (75) hours.
Rouge Benefits
We were advised recently by several of our newest members at Rouge, those who came online January 1 of this year, that their Great West Life benefits were being suspended due to booking off within their first three months of employment. We are happy to report that this issue has now been resolved.
Anyone who booked off for 7 days or less during their first three months of employment will have their Great West Life benefits reinstated immediately. If you have any further issues or concerns with regards to this, please let us know by replying to this email.
Rouge April 2019 Block Awards
The Union has received well over 100 emails on the disappointment you have all experienced with regards to the lack of notice when it came to scheduling changes, removed flights and dropped pairings. We have been working with labour over the last 24 hours and have the following updates:
– The Company will meet with the Union early next week with more concrete information.
– The Union spoke of Article L55.15.07 and the option the employer has to reassign members to new assignments vs converting you to standby reserve.
– Members are placed on reserve for now and as the company works through the April 2019 schedule, they will try to assign pairings in advance on your originally scheduled working days.
-YVR – OGG – All members will remain on this flight as this was just a renumber, this should be reflective on your pairings at this time.
We would also like to confirm that the rumour circulating that the Company and/or Union were made aware of said changes prior to bidding closure is not accurate. The Union was presented with a few changes prior to bidding close, but this was only for the mainline side. There were no changes presented to the Union on the Rouge side. We reached out to Labour and Scheduling today, and they confirmed they were also not aware of the last minute changes until the changes were actioned in the schedules.
We understand the stress our members are feeling, and the anxiety this has caused with some of you having your complete blocks removed and being placed on reserve. It is trying and is something the Union and the Company are discussing.
In solidarity,
Wesley Lesosky
President, Air Canada Component of CUPE