Wasaya Pilots to Receive Quarter-Million-Dollar Grant

[thecaptain]

Release #09.88
December 4, 2009

Wasaya Pilots to Receive Quarter-Million-Dollar Grant for Contract Negotiations
Pilots’ International Union Directs Resources to Get a Deal Now

THUNDER BAY, ON – Wasaya Airlines pilots now have a quarter-million- dollar grant from the world’s largest pilots union behind them as they pursue a fair contract with their management. Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l. (ALPA) announced the grant at a pilot briefing to Wasaya pilots in Thunder Bay.

“This grant puts Wasaya management on notice that ALPA will reject any attempt to maximize profits on the backs of employees,” said Prater. “Our international union stands solidly behind Wasaya pilots, and we are ready to do what is necessary to get a respectable and viable contract.”

Funds from the grant will pay for strategic activities as the pilot group has reached an impasse, a procedure that occurs when progress toward collective bargaining ceases after a good-faith effort at the bargaining table. Wasaya pilots have been in collective bargaining with their employer, Wasaya Airways LP, for the past 18 months. The parties entered into an essential service agreement, which permits a third party conciliation and arbitration process to determine outstanding terms and conditions of employment.

“We have been in discussions with Wasaya management over the past 18 months to achieve a fair and equitable contract,” said Capt. Dan Adamus, president of the ALPA Canada Board. “The pilots of Wasaya deserve and demand an agreement that reflects their contribution to not only the airline’s success, but to the First Nation communities that depend on the essential passenger and cargo services these pilots provide.”

ALPA’s Executive Council unanimously approved the grant from its Major Contingency Fund (MCF). The union’s Executive Board will also vote to approve the grant in the near future. The MCF is ALPA’s “war chest,” providing Canadian and U.S. pilot groups with the necessary resources to respond to threats to their jobs and to the piloting profession.

“Wasaya pilots stand solidly behind our highly experienced negotiating team,” said Capt. Jeff Braun, chairman of the Wasaya unit of ALPA. “Working together puts us in the strongest possible position to achieve the outcome we all seek--a viable, profitable, and sustainable airline.”

Wasaya Airlines is owned by a First Nations consortium and based in Northern Ontario with hubs in Thunder Bay and Sioux Lookout. The airline carries food, clothing, fuel, medicine, and other necessary supplies to 25 remote communities throughout Ontario.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing nearly 54,000 pilots at 36 airlines in the United States and Canada, including 90 pilots who fly for Wasaya. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

[moreccsplease]

Good on them, best of luck to Wasaya pilots!

ALPA gave Jazz pilots $5 million for contract negotiations (and of course access to their tremendous legal, actuarial, and contract negotiations team), and reassured the Jazz pilots that if that doesn't do the trick, ALPA has another $80 million in the bank. I think we're going to get something good this time around, and I hope Wasaya does as well.

[thecaptain]

Yep great group of pilots there. Hard working and they deserve something positive after dealing with so many negatives.

[North of You]

Congrats. You folks deserve it.

[peakbagger]

Excellent news. Growing up in Alberta and working in the oil fields for many years I have been against unions all my life, but after seeing the state of Aviation in Canada I have changed my tune. Sometimes we need more for representation for pilots than us venting on Avcanada. It really is great to see a Union do what it was meant to do.

[Panama Jack]

I used to be a proud ALPA member (at ACJ) and was always disappointed to hear when other pilots did not see the value of their union membership.

However, here we see evident only one of the benefits of membership in North American's largest dedicated pilot union. Membership has it's benefits and I've always felt that my union dues paid for themselves many times over.

Good luck to the pilots at Wasaya!

[magyar]

Why just Wasaya? cant all pilots get a "Quarter-Million-Dollar Grant". what does it take for a company to qualify for ALPA?

[moreccsplease]

Because they are unionized under ALPA.

Canadian carriers that are under ALPA are:

Air Canada Jazz
Air Transat
Canjet
Kelowna Flightcraft
First Air
Calm Air
Bearskin
Wasaya

To unionize your company's pilots into ALPA, this page will help you: http://wearealpa.org/

[Doc]

If ALPA can rid Wasaya of their "essential" services label, it'd give them the right to strike, and therefore a leg to stand on. Otherwise........?

[2R]

How can any single 703/704 operator be considered essential ?
What did people do before airplanes ?
Airplane travel is a luxury not essential .Medivac may be essential but shopping trips to wallmart or bingo trips.
Get real, calling that essential is an abuse of the english language.Sounds like some spoiled princess in florida saying that her trip to Paris was essential .

[flyinthebug]

If ALPA can rid Wasaya of their "essential" services label, it'd give them the right to strike, and therefore a leg to stand on. Otherwise........?

Once they give up that "label" they would stand to loose $$$$ in government funding so they simply wont allow that to happen. The pilots at Wasaya are a generally good group of guys/gals and I wish them the best. I just dont believe ALPA will have much affect on the management situation at Wasaya. Time will tell. All the best to the Wasaya drivers.

Fly safe all.

[nottellin]

Right now a concilliator will be called in to hopefully (with a little bit more muscle) bring the 2 sides closer together. If that doesnt work th an arbitraitor comes in who maks legally binding contract decisions which Wasaya management will have to abide by. For me personally no matter how long or how much this process costs it is worth it just to let management know that they can not operate withour any regard for a pilots personal life especially when they are not on the clock. Once the pilots of wasaya get treated more fairly, and compensated fairly for their time, managment will be forced to clean up their sloppy and wastefull ways. If they dont they will make less profit, but they will not be able to take these loses out of the pilots pockets. Another benifit I think this is doing is helping to raise the bar for pilots industry wide especially in the smaller operators. This might hopefully make the companies who operate under the "carrot on a stick bussiness model" think twice about how far they want to push things. I encourage other smaller companies to at least give ALPA a call if you are not happy with things and at least explore your options. The bar has been lowered way too much in Canada and we as pilots are going to be the only ones who can stop the slide. There is a lot of work for a small number of dedicatd people in unionizing, more then I realized. But these are the people who are raising the bar for aviation in Canada.
I will also say that I have never really been a union guy as they do have some negative drawbacks, and if a company can run fairly without a union like Westjet, then there is nothing more efficient. But greed and lack of forsight by management often makes this not a reallity and like others have said, unionizing seems to be the only option in cases like this.
just my personal opinion, thanks

[Doc]

FTB, government $$$ or not, without the right to strike, union dues are just toilet paper. ALPA can spin their wheels till the second comming, nothing will ever change.
Vacation requests will continue to be denied.
Pilots will continue to be docked "flight credits" if they take a sick day.
Pilots will still be required to cough up thousands of dollars to be enslaved to the company.
I don't see a change in the near future at Wasaya.
Expect to see the "slave/master" relationship continue here for a long time to come.

[2R]

There is a long history of slavery among differerent tribal groups in North America.It was those pesky white christians that where first to abolish slavery in their colonies.Slavery is still alive in Asia, Africa. Why not let the tribal groups practice their traditional slave ownership that those pesky white men took away.
Is that not why Sioux look out is called sioux look out to watch for raiding parties from the south ?

Speaking of Wasaya, who put a hawker on its ass last week ?Was that just a rumour or did captain pogo get a promotion ?

['79K20driver]

Another union representing pilots in Canada is the IUOE (International Union of Operating Engineers). They represent Conair and West Coast Air pilots. If you are at a company that is looking for representation then they may be worth contacting if you don't want to go with ALPA.
Good luck to the Wasaya pilots in their efforts, but like Doc says, if they can't strike due to their essential service label then who knows what the outcome will be.

[CLguy]

Doc stated:

without the right to strike, union dues are just toilet paper

Actually Doc that is not really true. Our union never had the right to strike and have only had it since the NDP Government was in power. I can tell you, getting the right to strike is the worst thing that ever happened to us. Prior to the right to strike all new Collective Agreements were settled thru binding arbitration and we used to kick managements ass thru this process. Since we have received the right to strike, we have walked the picket line 3 times and have never had any contract settlement, whether by striking or not, that has even come close to what used to be received thru binding arbitration.

You have to remember the right to, or not to strike only comes into play when negotiating a new Collective Agreement. Every Agreement has a time limit whether it be for a 1 yr, 3 yr or 5 yr time period. It has nothing to do with settling day to day disputes etc. That is where the grievance process comes into play and if a pilot or group of pilots file a grievance over a dispute about a particular item in the agreement or issue that management isn't living up to or adhering to then it ends up at arbitration and the dispute gets settled by an arbitrator. So whether or not they have the right to strike in order to bring in a new Contract or Collective Agreement as they are usually referred to, the grievance process will remain the process for settling any disputes between management and the employee's.

[Doc]

Doc stated:

without the right to strike, union dues are just toilet paper

Actually Doc that is not really true. Our union never had the right to strike and have only had it since the NDP Government was in power. I can tell you, getting the right to strike is the worst thing that ever happened to us. Prior to the right to strike all new Collective Agreements were settled thru binding arbitration and we used to kick managements ass thru this process. Since we have received the right to strike, we have walked the picket line 3 times and have never had any contract settlement, whether by striking or not, that has even come close to what used to be received thru binding arbitration.

You have to remember the right to, or not to strike only comes into play when negotiating a new Collective Agreement. Every Agreement has a time limit whether it be for a 1 yr, 3 yr or 5 yr time period. It has nothing to do with settling day to day disputes etc. That is where the grievance process comes into play and if a pilot or group of pilots file a grievance over a dispute about a particular item in the agreement or issue that management isn't living up to or adhering to then it ends up at arbitration and the dispute gets settled by an arbitrator. So whether or not they have the right to strike in order to bring in a new Contract or Collective Agreement as they are usually referred to, the grievance process will remain the process for settling any disputes between management and the employee's.

I hear you. But, on some levels, you guys are an essential service. (water bomber drivers) That, and for the most part at least, you are mature adults dealing with a reasonably professional management group at the other side of the bargaining table. I do hope it turns out "right side up" for these guys, but I'm a born skeptic.

[Minimums]

I'm with Doc. True, they'll probably get a settlement.....eventually, but if I was a betting man....and I am, I'd bet they will force the issue as long as possible just to save some bucks, and pit some of the group against themselves. Then, once its all said and done, they'll get a little better, but probably not what they're hoping for. They might get paid a little extra for it, but I'd bet they'll still be loading they're own planes, dragging fuel hoses in the middle of february, giving free rides in those funny looking little chairs, up and down the stairs, and doing all the regular grunt work because the company will complain to the judge that they don't have the personal to do it, so the pilots will, just like they always have. They might be proud they''ll be getting paid peanuts to do it, but I'm personally not a fan of pumping jet fuel when its -40 below and 40 knots whether its Gimli or Big Trout. The boot will just be a little farther up the @ss, and both parties will be smiling the whole time, cause the union made headway and the company saved themselves lots of dollars.

[Doc]

I'm with Doc. True, they'll probably get a settlement.....eventually, but if I was a betting man....and I am, I'd bet they will force the issue as long as possible just to save some bucks, and pit some of the group against themselves. Then, once its all said and done, they'll get a little better, but probably not what they're hoping for. They might get paid a little extra for it, but I'd bet they'll still be loading they're own planes, dragging fuel hoses in the middle of february, giving free rides in those funny looking little chairs, up and down the stairs, and doing all the regular grunt work because the company will complain to the judge that they don't have the personal to do it, so the pilots will, just like they always have. They might be proud they''ll be getting paid peanuts to do it, but I'm personally not a fan of pumping jet fuel when its -40 below and 40 knots whether its Gimli or Big Trout. The boot will just be a little farther up the @ss, and both parties will be smiling the whole time, cause the union made headway and the company saved themselves lots of dollars.

All the above, plus the hard feelings the whole process will generate. Wasaya management holds grudges. Been there, done that, have the hats. You piss them off one time, and it's forever. Any good things you might do are forever overshadowed by an event from the past. This is a group that really requires a union. The pilots are a really nice bunch of folks who don't deserve the dictatorship they serve under.

[Lost Lake]

Wow. Is it just me or what. It seems to me that the civilized population lived through the last 2 thousand years, including the industrial revolution to improve the life style of all mankind. We provide the tools to allow lesser fortunates (read third world nations, including aboriginals) to improve their lifestyles. It now seems that those same nations have aquired enough money (all through federal orinternational aide) and finance from us to be major employers worldwide. While these nations prefer to life in backward lifstyles compared to the civilized world, they now wish us to revert to their mentality and expectations of lifestyle. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. I include both indian, oops, native, oops, aboriginal, oops, first nation people as well as other nations. Stick it to wasaya and all other companies who treat professional pilots like third world workers. Man, am I ever getting jaded with this industry. Wish I could afford to retire, but that will never happen because I took up flying as a profession, oops I mean job.

[dutyday]

All the above, plus the hard feelings the whole process will generate. Wasaya management holds grudges. Been there, done that, have the hats. You piss them off one time, and it's forever. Any good things you might do are forever overshadowed by an event from the past. This is a group that really requires a union. The pilots are a really nice bunch of folks who don't deserve the dictatorship they serve under.

Thanks for the kind words Doc. We are all very much hoping that this whole situation will force a shift in the Wasaya culture. From SMS issues to pay, lifestyle and flight safety. Every pilot is ready for the positive changes to come. All it takes is for us to stand strong together and do our jobs with as much professionalism and safety that we can muster during this change. The road so far has not been an easy one and will continue to challenge all of us in the months ahead.
We certainly understand the "hard feelings" coming from the head office. But I'm not too sure that the management understands that all of the pilots want to work for a strong and successful business. We are all quite proud to work for a First Nations company and see its value and contribution to the aviation industry and First Nations communities alike. But we certainly can't let them continue to force us into unsafe practices and unfair work environment. Let's hope they can see that we were never against this company being a success. Rather we want to ensure it has the positive long lasting and profitable life.

[nottellin]

Well said Dutyday