Re: Canadian Airlines Flight Attendants and the CUPE Airline Division
The country is now experiencing the merger of Canada's two largest airlines,
Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International. As with any large corporate
merger, there are numerous issues to resolve, one of the most important being
the merging of the employee groups. The Airline Division of CUPE represents
all the unionized flight attendants from both companies. The Airline Division
has a Seniority Integration Policy that governs flight attendant seniority integration
in the event of mergers/buyouts/takeovers, etc. It is this policy that has seen
the successful merging of numerous airlines over the years. All members have
been able to rely on knowing in advance what the process would be if and when
their own group were to be merged. The merge between Air Canada flight attendants
and Canadian Airlines flight attendants should have been quick and effortless.
It has turned out to be something quite different. Instead, we find ourselves
in a bitter and divisive battle over seniority as the whole issue is debated
before arbitrator Kevin Burkett. How it got there is a pathetic tale of betrayal,
bullying and a complete lack of regard for established trade union principles
by the very people that have been elected to uphold them.
The Air Canada union reps unilaterally decided that they would not abide by the seniority integration policy. The Air Canada Component V/P, Richard Nolan, informed his counterparts at Canadian that if he and President Pam Sachs were to honour the policy, they would never be re-elected to office once the merger was complete. It was insinuated that because the Air Canada component had so many junior members, that they would be furious with a date of hire merging as the Canadian group had fewer junior members to occupy the lower rungs of the combined seniority list. What made this position taken by the A/C component so distasteful was that Richard Nolan had been the president of the Airline Division when the policy was adopted. He had been instrumental in the formation and implementation of the policy! He had, just months before during the Onex bid for the two airlines, been reassuring his members that if Onex was successful, the flight attendants from both groups would be merged date of hire as per the Division policy. A/C members were nervous with the Onex deal, as they perceived Canadian as having a "stronger" position in that scenario.
Once the merger deal was brokered by the A/C Corporation, the A/C flight attendant union reps decided that they were now in the "stronger" position and passed a motion at their executive meeting to have the flight attendants from Canadian "end-tailed". In other words, all the Canadian flight attendants (regardless of years of service) would go to the bottom of the combined seniority list. Keep in mind that the Canadian flight attendants had already been through numerous mergers, combining the predecessor companies of C.P. Air, Pacific Western Airlines, Nordair, Eastern Provincial Airlines and Wardair. Each merger went date of hire, following the Division policy. To say that the members at Canadian felt absolutely betrayed by the position taken by the A/C group, is an understatement. This sense of betrayal turned to disbelief as the Airline Division leadership failed to ensure that the A/C group abide by the policy. Disbelief turned to anger when it became evident that even Judy Darcy, National President of CUPE, silently stood by as this fiasco unfolded, allowing long held trade union principles to be violated. It appeared that CUPE National had turned it's back on the Canadian component members.
Ultimately, with no other options provided by the Division or CUPE National, the Canadian component found itself engaged in an arbitration process with the A/C group. Arbitrator, Kevin Burkett, was provided with copious amounts of precedent and history, and a document prepared by CUPE's own legal counsel, which trumpeted the enshrined seniority integration policy and the fact that all members of the Airline Division were bound by it. So it is with utter despair that the Canadian members digest the award prepared by Mr. Burkett. He has now redefined seniority as a "concept". Seniority is no longer based on ones years of service in Mr. Burkett's world. Hundreds of Canadian flight attendants will now see junior A/C members become "senior" to them because of this award. In many cases the A/C flight attendant was still in elementary school when the Canadian flight attendant began his/her career. Hundreds and hundreds of Canadian flight attendants will never reach the upper levels of the seniority list (and the preferred working conditions that go along with them) before they retire. There will always be younger (yet more "senior") members occupying those slots, whose own retirements will still be a long way off.
We are urging all CUPE members and other union groups in Canada to help us
in our fight to overturn this award. There can be no doubt as to the dangerous
precedent it will set. Every unionized worker in this country needs to sit up
and take notice. Your seniority may only be as safe as your ability to legally
outmaneuver a larger entity.