February 17, 2012 at 6:30 PM
(Montreal) CAW represented flight operation crew schedulers at Air Canada have overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year collective agreement today.
The new deal settled a number of outstanding issues, including the proposed relocation of work from Montreal to Toronto (delayed from March 2014 to March 2016).
The deal secures employment for those flight operation schedulers who opt not to move to Toronto, at the Montreal Reservations office. The agreement also protects wages for five years and provides retention and severance supports for workers. The deal was ratified by 97.5 per cent.
CAW President Ken Lewenza said that he’s pleased that another critical round of negotiations was settled without unnecessary interference in bargaining from the federal government.
"This was another very challenging set of negotiations and our bargaining committee produced an agreement that addresses the needs of the members," Lewenza said. "This is a deal that our flight operations crew schedulers can be proud of."
CAW Local 2002 President Jamie Ross said the union bargaining committee worked hard to ensure the members concerns are reflected in the final deal.
"After six tough months of talks we can say that we achieved our bargaining goals," Ross said.
Negotiations began in August 2011.
This is the second agreement reached between the CAW and Air Canada in the past week. Unionized in-flight crew schedulers overwhelmingly ratified a new 4-year agreement on February 15.
CAW Local 2002 represents 46 flight operations crew schedulers based in Montreal. The crew schedulers are responsible for both long-term and immediate scheduling of aircraft pilots.