I would like to get the factual information from Safetyfirst123 that blamed the harper government for the length of the Air Canada contract. It may be true but want to see independent info on how it all came to be.safetyfirst123 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 10:16 amYou got a couple of good responses above, but have you looked at pay scales? Have you seen how far behind we've gone in that time period compared to American pilots? If you consider these exaggerations you must love falling far behind in the last 15 years.pelmet wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 8:20 amNot sure about the details of how the ten year contract came to be. I suspect that people had to vote for it and union leaders had to agree to it.safetyfirst123 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 1:54 am
Because the Harper government showed a propensity to undermine labour unions. You are right, the Trudeau government provided mere lip service to unions, but it was under Harper that Air Canada pilots were forced into their horrible ten year contract which dragged our entire pilot pay in Canada down. Until then, we were not that far behind American pilot pay, and since then the Americans have leapfrogged us in Canada. The disappointment for how Harper held us back is not unfounded.
However, detailed information from you about the specifics would be welcome.
Let's see if we actually get that factual information from SafetyFirst123 or if it turns out to be exaggeration. All I like is harsh truth facts.
Meanwhile,,,,,I took the time to go to the AC forum back to 2014 to see what the reaction was to the 10 year agreement. Well, guess what? No one is screaming how bad it is. I see neutral to a bit positive. Yet somehow, now pilots from AC and others scream like it was the worst thing in the world. Amazing how things change. And always the comparison to the US. Well..... Ceo's in the US can make up to a trillion dollars like Musk. And their doctors and nurses make way more and so does just about everyone else. Many people in these categories move there if they can, and figure out how to do so one way or another.
Using airline workers in an example when it comes to pay....In the US, pilots make more, while others like baggage handles make less. Canada is more socialist(as seen by out new majority government voted in last night for the fourth time in a row, likely with your help at some point) and the top paid employees make less while the bottom ones make more.
Here is the AC ten year contract thread and a comment from it(with the most important part underlined).....
http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=99296
The "signing bonus" is not really a signing bonus. It is a codeshare grievance settlement that pays out the members a little less than half of what the grievance amount was. It clean slates that grievance. It was satisfactorily explained by ACPA legal at the roadshow.
It is debatable that the pay increases will outperform COL but the corp does have an aggressive expansion plan and incentive program tied to EBITDAR that makes it palatable.
It is a 10 year deal with the option for limited negotiations every 3 years if certain benchmarks are not reached.
New hire pay is improved. There is talk that massive hiring would be needed to match the growth.
Max MPU increased.
Would I have liked it to be more more aggressive? Yes.
Will it pass? Yes.
Still think that binding arbitration thing might work out better for AC pilots in upcoming negotiations, especially if they can get a situation where AC is unreasonable and the pilots are at the very top end of reasonable(especially for the newer guys).
