June 17, 2015 at 9:29 PM
At a leadership meeting held today in Toronto,
Local 2002 officers working at Air Canada voiced their approval for the
tentative agreement reached on June 14, 2015.
The new five-year agreement covers over 4000 Unifor
customer sales and service members working in airports, call centres, customer
journey management and customer relations across Canada. Negotiations officially
commenced on January 26 for a collective agreement that would expire on February
28, 2015.
Local 2002 President Cheryl Robinson expressed her
appreciation for the dedication of workplace representatives across the country
and the crucial support shown throughout negotiations by the entire Unifor
family.
"This battle was for good jobs and our membership
demonstrated that our solidarity is a force to be reckoned with," said Robinson.
"Unifor sent a clear message to some very big players that we want and deserve
respect; this contract achieves this."
Introduced as the third most powerful man in the
country (Maclean's Magazine), National President Jerry Dias said that he is
pleased with what Unifor was able to achieve for Air Canada workers at the
bargaining table but he acknowledged that while the new agreement includes
substantial wage increases, improvements to benefits and landmark job security
language, the committee had to make difficult choices.
"When we lose one job, we take it personally, but
we need to look out for the entire bargaining unit and make the decision not to
grasp defeat from the jaws of victory," said Dias. "Overall, it is one hell of a
package and we believe this is an agreement that meets the objective of our
members."
Ratification meetings will take place this coming
week across the country, with results to be released on June 26, 2015.
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