Sunwing Pilots file bad faith complaint with CIRB

[Fredsbutt]

https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/su ... laint-cirb

[fruz]

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/s ... 01060.html

TORONTO, July 18, 2022 /CNW/ - Following a recent bad faith bargaining complaint by Sunwing pilots at the Canada Industrial Relations Board, Sunwing announced that it plans on revoking the company's Pilot Loss of License insurance as of July 31, 2022, as a cost-cutting measure.


"What Sunwing Airlines is doing to their employees is fundamentally wrong and unCanadian," said Scott Doherty, Unifor's Executive Assistant to the National President. "They have taken hundreds of millions of government money during the pandemic and threatened to cut their employees off CEWS unless they agreed to deep concessions in their contracts. Cutting off this Loss of License insurance is adding insult to injury."

Sunwing pilots filed a complaint at the Canada Industrial Relations Board Monday, July 4, 2022, alleging their employer bargained in bad faith during a recent round of negotiations because the employer already knew the company was being sold to WestJet.

On July 8, 2022 – days after the filing at the CIRB – Sunwing sent a document to Unifor pilot members indicating the company would no longer be continuing the pilots' $200,000 Loss of License insurance policy, which supports a pilot who loses their license to fly due to medical reasons.

"Loss of License Insurance is critical for pilots," said Barret Armann, President of Unifor Local 7378, which represents 452 Sunwing pilots. "Without one, they are out of a career. The insurance provided a very small amount of money to retrain, support their families and begin again in a new career – a position pilots hope they never find themselves in."

Further to the insurance cancellation, Armann said Sunwing plans on hiring roughly 65 foreign temporary workers this winter in Regina, Saskatoon and Edmonton, to alleviate worker shortage as travel continues to ramp up, post-pandemic.

These temporary workers, mostly from Czech Republic, require less flying experience – 3,000 hours for captains – compared to Unifor's captains at a minimum of 4,000 to 5,000 hours and Armann says the company is paying these foreign workers more than 75% of Unifor pilots currently employed.

"There are lots of qualified pilots here in Canada, but Sunwing has decided to bring in workers with less training," said Armann. "Our pilots feel they have been taken advantage of after being out of work for more than a year-and-a-half and are angry at how the company chooses to treat its pilot group. The Canadian government needs to strengthen guidelines to prevent companies from outsourcing our work and put Canadian workers first."

Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

[rudder]

You get what you pay for. UNIFOR - the pilots union?

[fruz]

You get what you pay for. UNIFOR - the pilots union?

Where do you suggest the pilot group should have went after being rejected by ALPA?

[rudder]

You get what you pay for. UNIFOR - the pilots union?

Where do you suggest the pilot group should have went after being rejected by ALPA?

I think that was several years ago (and under the reign of a questionable ALPA President). Lots of CDN Pilot groups have joined ALPA in the last few years. Morningstar and CargoJet come to mind. Flair. PAL. Perimeter.

[Babar350]

.

[goingmissed]

"Here at Sunwing, we value our employees!"

[ads-b]

WJ got their butts handed to them under ALPA last round. It was so bad I thought the arbitrator was paid off. The majority of WG’s contract is better then WJ’s...other then pay which is only due to bargaining in the midst of the pandemic.

[fish4life]

WJ got their butts handed to them under ALPA last round. It was so bad I thought the arbitrator was paid off. The majority of WG’s contract is better then WJ’s...other then pay which is only due to bargaining in the midst of the pandemic.

The most important thing in a contract is scope which is seems like Sunwing has very little protection over.

[rudder]

IF the SW/WJ transaction is consummated (big IF), and if there is pilot bargaining unit consolidation (either consensually or via common employer ruling from CIRB), then their will be a representation vote.

I do not see the WJ pilots voting for UNIFOR so the ultimate result will likely be ALPA for the SW pilots.

[ads-b]

The most important thing in a contract is pay and schedule. The rest is fluff.

Agreed rudder. We’ll be ALPA for sure.

[Greasy Greaser]

The most important thing in a contract is pay and schedule. The rest is fluff.

Agreed rudder. We’ll be ALPA for sure.

Without Scope language/protection, all pay and schedule rules are moot.

Scope is King
Schedule and pay are second.

[rooster]

The most important thing in a contract is pay and schedule. The rest is fluff.

Agreed rudder. We’ll be ALPA for sure.

Without Scope language/protection, all pay and schedule rules are moot.

Scope is King
Schedule and pay are second.

Could someone please explain to me what scope is in this context? I thought it had something to do with an airlines regional carrier and how many seats their aircraft are allowed to have to fly their routes or something.

Thanks!

[slob driver]

The most important thing in a contract is pay and schedule. The rest is fluff.

Agreed rudder. We’ll be ALPA for sure.

Could not disagree with the above statement more.

$500/ hourly rates and twenty days off per month is useless with zero scope protection. Many pilots in Canada do not understand what the scope section is. Not certain why this is but here goes a very simple explanation….It’s a bargaining units legal protections to the flying performed by the company or group they work for.
We all think the flying our company does is rightfully ours (each individual pilot group). This is not the case. Westjet group has westjet, Swoop, Encore, and Link flying the WestJet brand (notwithstanding codeshares). Air Canada- down to only Air Canada and Jazz but there used to be so many more (CMA, Georgian, EVAS, Nova, AO, Air BC ETC.) Without a scope section, protections around a pilot group’s flying is hazy at best to utterly non-existent at worst.
You said above that wj pilots got it handed to them by Arbitrator Kaplan. From the point of view of many wj pilots, the trade off that Arbitrator Kaplan made was 30 narrow bodies at Swoop for the scope section we received, with the main scope gain surrounding 76/78 seat scope and alter ego (affiliate) language. That was a big win for the wj Alpa pilots, who have lost more flying to the Encore side pre certification than we have post certification to Swoop.
The Swoop Lou is a giant POS, but it should be noted the whole thing (scheduling, pay rates, benefits) were modelled exactly after the Sunwing agreement at the time. I’m not certain if that’s a ringing endorsement of the Sunwing Agreement. I’m sure we could argue the finer points of both contracts till the cows come home and likely call each other’s parents names but that will do no good.
Suffice it to say, the WJ pilots will be looking for significant gains in this bargaining cycle. We are now moving into a phase of a more mature bargaining cycle. We stress tested language in our contract due to the pandemic that we never thought we would. If the deal between WJ and Sunwing is consummated, both pilot groups should want the Wja pilots negotiate the best contract we can.
Please educate yourself about the finer things in both contracts (pay, work rules, scope, retirement, benefits, vacation, scheduling, hours of service, reserve). It will be very important to have an educated pilot group going forward. It isn’t just pay and schedule.

P.S. Love the ULP filing. Great message sent to the Company!

[sstaurus]

The most important thing in a contract is pay and schedule. The rest is fluff.

Agreed rudder. We’ll be ALPA for sure.

Without Scope language/protection, all pay and schedule rules are moot.

Scope is King
Schedule and pay are second.

Exactly, WJ pilots' single most important item will be scope at the end of this year. Otherwise of course the company will plant every new tail at the growing pink cancer that is swoop.

[fish4life]

The most important thing in a contract is pay and schedule. The rest is fluff.

Agreed rudder. We’ll be ALPA for sure.

Without Scope language/protection, all pay and schedule rules are moot.

Scope is King
Schedule and pay are second.

Could someone please explain to me what scope is in this context? I thought it had something to do with an airlines regional carrier and how many seats their aircraft are allowed to have to fly their routes or something.

Thanks!

It’s not just regionals.

Scope will say how long / if a company can wet lease, it should say that any flying done by the airline will be done by pilots bound by the contract and part of the seniority list. In sunwings case it should state something like only a lesser than or equal number of aircrew will be allowed to fly the winter in canada as those deployed to Europe in the summer

[co-joe]

...and no goddamn TFW's!

[daedalusx]

There is nothing more disgraceful than not upgrading your own loyal employees and hire direct entry TFW Capts with LESS flight experience than them. Unifor should have gone scorched earth over this like the American pilots did last year with massive book offs and delays.
Filthy disgusting company run by the lowest of the low.