Air Canada Bargaining Committee News: Issue # 5

Air Canada Bargaining Committee News: Issue # 5

December 7, 2017 at 6:00 PM
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Air Canada Bargaining Committee News: Issue # 5

Benefit Update

In 2015, Ontario stopped licensing podiatrists. After two years of lobbying the company, Air Canada will now recognize and pay the applicable benefit to a member who visits a chiropodist rather than a podiatrist.

With the aging workforce, the need for a podiatrist has become greater than ever.  However, finding one is getting more difficult. Should you have any questions about the coverage, please refer to the Employee Benefits Handbook which is located on the Air Canada Aeronet.

Detailed Pay Summary

Beginning in 2018, Air Canada will be introducing a new and enhanced detailed pay statement.   
The pay statement will include the following items; your hours worked (with per hour amount and total), overtime worked, RO deductions and sick time used.  It will also show your time bank balance ending on the pay period.

Under the detailed pay statement, you will see a day-to-day breakdown listing any anomalies that altered your pay cheque and the reason for the change. The detailed account will help you identify specific discrepancies that may exist with your pay.  The transparency will also assist local management with rectifying problems, speeding up the time it takes to resolve pay issues.

Streamline and Scheduling

Unifor has brought to the company’s attention on numerous occasions that Streamline management has manipulated duties and used favoritism in assigning duties to members.  There have also been numerous pay issues because of coding in ESS.

It was agreed, that we create a joint Company/Unifor Committee to identify the issues and determine how we can proceed forward.

The bargaining committee has had several discussions with the Company with regards to the dissatisfaction of our members and union representatives with scheduling (Article 6). Particularly, since a number of changes to the article were made in anticipation of LOU 32 - Preferential Bid System (PBS) being implemented. Following a complete review of the PBS system, both the company and the Bargaining Committee determined that this system is not practical for our membership.

Air Canada agreed to have a joint scheduling committee to discuss our issues around scheduling, including the transparency of requirements, training, the role of the district cycling as well as the allotted time for the CRC’s. 

This committee will be comprised of an experienced scheduling team from our district members. With this newly formed joint committee, we are cautiously optimistic that some positive improvements will be made.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

At the end of 2017, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) contract was set to expire. The Bargaining Committee, Employee Assistance Program-EAP Coordinator Josee Garand and Euila Leonard, President, formed part of a selection committee to review several EAP providers to bid and present their distinctive programs that would benefit our membership. Aroon Shah and Associates have been the EAP provider servicing our members for over 25 years.

After a thorough review of several EAP providers including Aroon Shah and Associates, the committee unanimously agreed to award the EAP contract to another provider, Morneau Shepell effective January 1st, 2018.

We believe our members will benefit from the new and enhanced services that Morneau Shepell will offer. In the coming weeks, we will be communicating via e-news and our Local 2002 website the services that will be available to our members.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Aroon Shah and Associates for the many years of care and consideration that our members received.

Dealing with Difficult Customers

In November, the Bargaining Committee met with the Air Canada management team for the final 2017 quarterly Union/Management Headquarters Meeting (UMHQ) in Toronto.

In the previous UMHQ meetings, your Bargaining Committee raised the concerns relating to the challenges of dealing with difficult customers, both face to face at our airport locations and over the telephone at our contact centres.

After detailing many of the difficult situations that our members face on a daily basis, Air Canada has agreed to provide specific training on how to resolve these challenging and difficult situations.

Air Canada presented the Bargaining Committee with the initial concepts of the training modules that have been designed for our members to assist them in dealing with challenging and difficult situations. 

The training is an interactive learning technique and will allow for our members to learn how to identify potential difficult situations. This training will also help to identify and address these emotional situations exhibited by the customer. 

Air Canada is planning to have the training module begin in the first quarter of 2018. The Bargaining Committee anticipates that this training will assist our members with the necessary tools to cope and resolve these situations, as customer issues have been increasing in recent years.

Unifor is committed to ensuring that our members are protected and educated in their workplaces. The employer must provide a safe work environment for all our members.

In solidarity,

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