Air Canada Pilots to Vote on Corporation's Offer

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8 March2012

 

Air Canada Pilots to Vote on Corporation's Offer

 

 

 

TORONTO – Air Canada pilots willvote on the latest offer from their employer, with their Association recommending that the pilots reject theoffer and send a message to their employer to get serious about negotiations.

 

“The Corporation pulled adramatic u-turn yesterday on the first day of our return to bargaining,” said Captain Paul Strachan,President of the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA). “After committing to a federal mediation process thatwas to last up to 180 days, the corporation instead chose to table what it termed its “final” offer only 23days into the process, without any serious effort to bridge our differences by negotiating in goodfaith.

 

“We think Air Canada pilotsshould be given the opportunity to tell the corporation directly what they think of its offer and its actionsin this round of bargaining.”

 

The vote is not the result of atentative agreement. There is no agreement. The Association is recommending that the pilots reject theoffer.

 

“This offer continues thecorporation’s pattern of behavior over the last decade and demands even more concessions from our pilots,”Captain Strachan said. “It’s ridiculous that the corporation continues to focus on squeezing a group ofprofessionals whose compensation represents only about four per cent of revenue. Having provided ongoingconcessions amounting to several billion dollars over the last nine years, it’s high time that Air Canadarecognized the value created by its experienced professional pilots who fly thousands of passengers safelyand efficiently to their destinations every day.”

 

Last month, the pilots signaledtheir displeasure with the corporation’s actions by voting 97 per cent in favour of a strike; however, thepilots’ have not called for any form of industrial action and have consistently maintained the same goal - anegotiated settlement.

 

Air Canada pilots are continuingto fly under an expired 2009 agreement that froze their pay rates for more than two years. That agreementalso provided the corporation with hundreds of millions of dollars in relief from its pension fundingobligations.

 

In contrast, Air Canada lastyear boosted compensation for its top five executives by 30 per cent. On March 31 of this year, Air CanadaPresident and CEO Calin Rovinescu will collect a $5 million retention bonus for remaining in his position forthree years.

(MORE…)

 

(AIR CANADA PILOTS TOVOTE…continued)

 

“Air Canada pilots havecontinued to demonstrate their professionalism and commitment to our passengers despite the challenges ourairline has faced,” Captain Strachan said. “We have also made more sacrifices than any other employees tokeep Air Canada flying and are the only employee group being asked to do so again.”

 

In Air Canada’s financialrestructuring of 2003-2004, the pilots accepted pay cuts of 15 – 30 per cent and granted other concessions tokeep the airline viable. Since that time, they have been unable to freely bargain a new contract and theirpay rates are currently lower than they were a decade ago.

 

The Air Canada PilotsAssociation is the largest professional pilot group in Canada, representing the 3,000 pilots who operate AirCanada’s mainline fleet.

 

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PaulHoward

Director ofCommunications

905-678-9008 ext.4401

phoward@acpa.ca

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