Air Canada Bargaining Committee News: Issue #2

Air Canada Bargaining Committee News: Issue #2

March 27, 2017 at 11:00 AM

  

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The Bargaining Committee has continued to work on resolving the issues raised by our members. Below is clarification on some of those issues.

  

Overtime & Recall

The negotiated overtime and recall rules are located in article 7 of our collective agreement. Most members are clear on the time and a half and double time language. However, there are always unique situations that arise which may not be as straight forward to understand especially when differentiating between full time and part time status. We have put together some examples below which will help explain the union’s position on the payment of overtime and recall.

Example #1: Part time member works 0600-1000 shift and then 1000-1500. This member would be paid straight time for the overtime which is hours worked in conjunction to their shift until they have worked 40 hours in a given week. If the time worked in conjunction with the shift exceeds 40 hours for that week, the member would then be paid 1.5X.

Example #2: Part time member works 0600-1000 shift and also 1100-1500. The additional time is not in conjunction with the scheduled shift so this would be considered recall and be paid at 1.5X.

Example #3: Part time member is on a day off and comes in for 0600-1400. This is considered recall as it is the member’s day off and they are being recalled back to work so they would be paid 1.5X. However, if this is their second or subsequent day off that they have worked; this would be paid at 2X.

Example #4: Full time member is on a day off. They pick up a 1500-2000 part time shift. They are then awarded overtime from 0600-1500. The member would be paid 1.5X for the 0600-1500 (the overtime portion) unless it is their second or subsequent day off in which case they would be paid 2X for the overtime portion of their day.

Example #5: Full time member that works a shift with split days off (4X3 schedule with Mon, Thu and Fri off). If the member works overtime on the Monday, which is their first day off, they are paid 1.5X. If the member was then to also work overtime on Thursday of that week, which would be their second and subsequent day off, they are paid 2X. If the member also worked overtime on the Friday of that week, they would again be paid 2X.

It is very difficult to predict the many potential issues that could arise from the overtime and recall language. Please contact your district chairperson of any issues that you may encounter for further investigation.

  

Tie Breakers

Tie breakers are methods used to determine the seniority order of members when more than one person is hired into our collective agreement on the same date. Over the years there have been many variations to tie breakers. Many people do not even think about how they ended up on a seniority list and why they are where they are. The usual rule – since 1985 – has been to invert the last three digits of the employee number. Hold your horses though because like everything else there are anomalies that have occurred and still exist today.

Up until 1985 there were various ways to place people on the seniority list. Some practices were discriminatory as they were based on age. In 1985 the process was streamlined to the last three digits of the employee number inverted. However (and this is a big however) in 1985 part-time status officially became part of the Collective Agreement. Agents who were hired part-time pre-1985 inclusive had an employee number that started with a letter and the four digits. So, for example; A7120 was part-time in 1985 moving forward all employees receive a six-digit employee number, For the purpose of this example, lets use 051999. The A7120 was retired. Since the agent had no break in service their “tie breaker” would use their old part-time number – thus being 021 and not 999 to place them on the list. If you look at the seniority list today you will still see these employees.

More anomalies:

  • Agents with other company service (ie: ramp, inflight, etc.) will automatically go to the top of the list for their training class. This is regardless of their last three digits of their employee number.

  • At the merger, the seniority order was decided by pulling either red or blue from a hat that was how people with the same start date were placed on the list. Awkward, but there was no other way to do it. Each member was guaranteed not to lose the position they held on the list prior to the merger.
      

The union controls seniority and not the company. As you can see adjusting someone’s position on the seniority list is not an easy task. Positioning was done for a reason and an assumption made on the simple observation may not be the correct one. The history of the tie breaker needs to be researched and considered whenever an adjustment of seniority is applied for.

  

Vacation Slide

Each bid anxious agents try to figure out how they will take their vacation once they have bid. Perhaps one of the more confusing aspects of the Collective Agreement is the vacation slide. Click here to view the slide charts (also available in the Unifor-Air Canada Collective Agreement under LOU 29).

The following is a brief explanation. Unless you work a 5/2 (Monday to Friday) most agents will experience some type of sliding.

A vacation week shall be bid from Sunday to Saturday. However, employees’ vacation will slide in conjunction to their days off to provide the employee with the maximum number of consecutive days off in the scheduled vacation week in which the employee bid. In cases of a tie where there would be an equal number of days off if the vacation were to slide forwards or backwards, the vacation will always slide forward. The employee shall be given the option to start their vacation on the first Sunday of their bid week. Employees will inform the Company immediately following the schedule bid which includes their vacation week, if they choose not to slide their vacation and commence on the Sunday as bid (Article 14.02.01 Note 5).

The idea is to keep people in the week that they bid but to allow them to maximize time off. A vacation week is a 7 day increment including days on and off. Sliding affords maximum time off.

  

We hope these explanations provide clarity to your questions. If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

  

In solidarity,

Unifor Air Canada Bargaining Committee:
Cheryl Robinson – President Local 2002
Leslie Dias – Unifor National Staff Representative
Tammy Moore – Atlantic Region
Benoit Lapointe – Eastern Region
Frances Galambosy – Central Region (Chairperson)
Joanne Goulet – Western Region
Steve Murphy – Pacific Region

  

  

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