CUPE serves strike notice for Oct 13, 2011

[CD]

Air Canada Receives Strike Notice from CUPE
October 9, 2011 7:41 PM

Airline revises ticketing policy so customers can change bookings free of charge

MONTREAL, Oct. 9, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada has been advised by CUPE, the union representing the airline's 6,800 flight attendants, that the new tentative agreement reached by the Company and the union's negotiating committee on September 20, 2011 was not ratified by the union membership. Subsequently, Air Canada has been given a strike notice by CUPE confirming the union's intention to begin a strike at 00:01 a.m. ET Thursday October 13, 2011. In the interim, Air Canada's operations are not affected and the airline will continue to operate its normal schedule.

"We are perplexed and disappointed that two tentative agreements negotiated in good faith with and unanimously recommended by the democratically elected representatives of our flight attendants have failed to be ratified," said Duncan Dee, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "Air Canada remains hopeful that a disruption can be avoided."

In recognition of the uncertainty for customers this situation may cause, Air Canada has introduced a flexible rebooking policy to enable customers booked for travel over the next six days on a rolling window basis (October 10-15, 11-16, etc.) to change dates free of charge until December 15, 2011, subject to seat availability.

Full details available here...

[duranium]

Hum.... interesting concept of serving notice to strike when the Labour Minister has said in so many words that a strike is OUT OF THE QUESTION, VERBOTEN. One does not nead to be a rocket scientist ( and generaly speaking, AC F/As are not ) that it is not going to happen and that this is posturing, clear and simple.

Now, any bets out there on how fast they are going to fold ? My bet is as fast as a house of cards in a good breeze.

Note to pilots: learn a lesson regarding what is about to happen.

[Rockie]

Hum.... interesting concept of serving notice to strike when the Labour Minister has said in so many words that a strike is OUT OF THE QUESTION, VERBOTEN. One does not nead to be a rocket scientist ( and generaly speaking, AC F/As are not ) that it is not going to happen and that this is posturing, clear and simple.

Now, any bets out there on how fast they are going to fold ? My bet is as fast as a house of cards in a good breeze.

Note to pilots: learn a lesson regarding what is about to happen.

What's so strange about exercising their legal right to strike? Is everybody supposed to run away with their tail between their legs just because the government wants to eliminate a right they've had for decades? If the government does take away that right every unionized employee in the country should make damn sure there is a price to pay for it.

BTW, pilots aren't exactly rocket scientists either so I wouldn't throw rocks if I were you.

[KAG]

Our elected officials may not let the FA's strike but as CATSA just proved in YYZ a work to rule can be a nasty disruption in of itself. I'm thinking cold/flue season is
going to be nasty this year.

Also as before I think her honor-less Ms Lisa Raitt needs to let the democratic process run it's course.

[the original tony]

Rockie is absolutely right, pilots aren't that smart either. Some never want to retire....... Brilliant.
As far as the democratic process KAG, not to worry. It will not affect your profit share at WJ where strike isn't even in the vocabulary. Our fa's have it better than most on the same job detail. Yet strike is all they know. Let them tell you about the snap backs in pay, the drafting on a daily basis, sometimes for an entire pairing to complete a leg home that will be 5 mins over duty. Let them go and hire new. They are severely unskilled labour and should be treated justly.
Nobody is forcing them to stay. Take their skill set and head to the nearest coffee shop. Life is much better there. Pension and all.
Rant over. I'm just glad to be off this week..

Tony

[Rockie]

Let them go and hire new. They are severely unskilled labour and should be treated justly. Nobody is forcing them to stay. Take their skill set and head to the nearest coffee shop.

Tell me again why you personally deserve the respect of your crewmembers?

[vic777]

We can all agree that that F/A's are not Rocket Scientists, neither are Pilots, neither are Politicians. I have a question, can the Government force a Union back to work if that Union has not been deemed an essential service? An essential service traditionally does far better in negotiations than the equivalent Union. Can the Pilots get themselves categorized as an essential service and get the resultant pay raise that would result at the next round of negotiations? One thing is certain, the F/A's will do better in negotiations, than the Pilots. As far as negotiating goes, the F/A's are smarter than the Pilots. Their leaders are smarter than our leaders.

[Rockie]

I have a question, can the Government force a Union back to work if that Union has not been deemed an essential service?

If I'm not mistaken the CUPW is challenging the constitutional legitimacy of the government's actions in legislating them back to work since they are not an essential service. Hopefully that will restore the rights of workers that this government is denying them, and us.

[vic777]

If I'm not mistaken the CUPW is challenging the constitutional legitimacy of the government's actions in legislating them back to work since they are not an essential service. Hopefully that will restore the rights of workers that this government is denying them, and us.

Of course, all they or we have to do is defy the, "Bogus", "Back to work legislation". The F/A's have the cojones to do it. The Pilots do not.

[CD]

I believe that some of these questions may have already been reviewed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1987:

Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta.), [1987] 1 S.C.R. 313, April 9, 1987

[the original tony]

rockie. Really, I have about as much respect for our superior fa's as I do for you.
What anybody at work thinks of me couldn't mean less. Afterall free speech is one if our god given rights, just like going on strike. So I say what I like. To many in person if they really want to know. Respect is nothing, it's a word used in cultures that have some appreciation of their status and place on the totem pole. This is far removed from our society. Atleast in our profession.
Give them what they deserve,

[Mig29]

Of course, all they or we have to do is defy the, "Bogus", "Back to work legislation". The F/A's have the cojones to do it. The Pilots do not.

You are quite correct. Because they don't care what they fly on, and how long is their.....you know, aluminum, they just care about their quality of lifestyle. We are too blind to see beyond the gauges in front of us. But it's never too late to change

[Rockie]

rockie. Really, I have about as much respect for our superior fa's as I do for you.

Master of the obvious.

Respect is nothing,

Respect (in both directions) is an essential component of effective leadership. Are you a Captain by any chance?

[vic777]

What does the ....

Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta.), [1987] 1 S.C.R. 313, April 9, 1987

have to do with employees working for a non-Government Corporation?

[vic777]

Give them what they deserve,

They deserve what they negotiate, n'est-cest pas?

[CD]

The Court appears to have determined, in part, that the Constitution Act, 1982 does not guarantee a right to strike. There is also some discussion of essential service in the decision. CUPE was also one of the appellants.

Makes for some interesting reading...

RH may be able to better explain any implications.

[the original tony]

vous êtes 100% Sir correcte. maintenant que l'équipe a négocié la deuxième fois on croirait que la transaction est équitable.
Now that the second TA has been turned down one sees greed and self worth outweighing usefulness. By about a hundred to one shot.
But hey, negotiate away. Piss off the public more than usual and enjoy the benefits in our near recession riddled economy.

[bandaid]

An essential service traditionally does far better in negotiations than the equivalent Union.

I have worked in an essential service for 36 years and anyone who believes the above quote would be wrong in that belief. During our last round of negotiation we were beat up on by the government sided Lieberal Relations Board with conditions put on us that most would find unacceptable. In the end we were legislated "back to work" (which is a laughable term in itself) while we were voting on an offered contract (first time ever in Canadian history). The Lieberals stated that it was because they needed stability in the service and to review the current practices but the real reason was the Owelympics were starting in a month.
Nope I would argue with you Vic is your analogy of how well essential services do in negotiations. Our staffing levels actually go up during a strike as we are forced to work on our days off to fill cars that before the strike would have gone unstaffed due to inadequate staffing levels set by government.

[SilentMajority]

The F/A's are going to end up in binding arbitration with a 4 yr. + contract basically decided by an outside, disinterested third party who doesn't have a clue about their job.

Not a very good situation.

And if and when we turn down TA 2 ( which will probably be worse than TA 1)..... we'll be next.

Also not a very good situation.

[ODA]

Will the government be able to legislate back to work legislation prior to Thursday morning?? I thought it was a well timed annoucment, today being a Holiday and most MP's most likely at home for Thanksgiving. Even if they were only on stike for 1 day that would hurt AC badly. Plus all the strike talk can't be good for business. Bit of a negotiating chip I would imagine.

[Raymond Hall]

What does the ....

Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta.), [1987] 1 S.C.R. 313, April 9, 1987

have to do with employees working for a non-Government Corporation?

That statute is obviously not applicable to the Air Canada Flight Attendants, but the questions dealt with by the SCC are relevant. The Charter, being the supreme law of the land and part of our constitution, is invoked only as between government and the citizens. Private parties are not subject to the Charter restrictions unless and until they are affected by laws governing their relationship. All Canadian laws are subject to the provisions of the Charter.

Parliament has supremacy over the laws of the land. It can legislate what it likes and those laws will be binding, subject to any challenge to the constitutionality of the legislation. Any legislation that Parliament passes to force employees back to work is subject to the Charter. Based on the SCC jurisprudence cited above, it is extremely doubtful, in my view, that any Court would find Parliament's express intention to protect what it calls "the fragile economy" sufficient to override the Section 1 test: "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

Having said that, there are some logistical problems for Parliamentarians with the announced strike notice. Parliament, when in session, works on a three week on, one week off calendar, in order to allow the MPs time to maintain their work in their local constituencies. This week is a break week, and legislation getting the Flight Attendants back to work this week would require an unplanned recall of Parliament.

Ironically, if that doesn't happen before the strike deadline (Thursday, 12:01 AM), many MPs could have a problem getting a flight to Ottawa in order to pass the legislation!

[Old fella]

All due respect to Air Canada but they are no more of an essential service than WestJet/Porter/Jazz/CDN/First Air et al. If the FAs do decide to walk AC will not completely shut down but will certainly be limited in what it can provide and when, that is for certain. There are other means for the travelling public(as noted above) or VIARAIL, bus, drive(short distances).Inconvenience – yes for those booked on AC, rest of us – no.
All this is heavy handedness by the Harper administration who doesn’t like labor associations/unions and more important catering to their political base who are even more adamant in their hate of anything called labor. Remember 60% didn’t vote for Harper but his base got him the majority (38% of the popular vote) and they have to be tossed bones to keep them happy. What better bones as those of labor unions be they private or public. They (base) will be called on again 4 yrs. time to get Harper re elected.

[Dilbert Pickles]

And we need a university education to work with you knuckleheads..... Please...

[Rockie]

"Maybe the union misjudged, maybe management misjudged, but to do it two times in a row is a warning bell and it's something that we have to take a look at," Raitt said.

"There's something wrong in this case, and does that mean there's something wrong in the code?" she said. "And if there is, what do we do about it? But the beginning part is analyzing the facts at hand to see if it's a one-off … or is it a case where the code, which is 100 years old, has to be taken a look at." Raitt said there are no changes planned, but that she is starting a process to see whether adjustments might be needed in the future.

"If we do have a problem and maybe it is a flaw in the system, we should discover it now and if we need to make changes we can make changes," the minister said.



This is the clearest indication yet that the Harper government intends to permanently curtail worker's right to negotiate their working conditions in this country.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2 ... hreat.html

[vic777]

This is the clearest indication yet that the Harper government intends to permanently curtail worker's right to negotiate their working conditions in this country.

Maybe the Pilots should get behind the F/A's and fight the much larger issue which is for the right to strike by AC employees.
If the Government talks of back to work legislation the Pilots should walk. Or are the Pilots afraid of a fight? Why do I already know the answer to that question?