August 14, 2014 at 5:48 PM
On August 7, 2014 I had the opportunity to meet with nearly 50
Servisair District 418 members in Montreal at an important information
meeting regarding the Blue Pass flight benefits arbitration.
At
the meeting, district chairperson Filomena Bruno, vice chairpersons
Nadia Maftah and Patricia Pizzoferrato, bargaining committee member
Melanie DaSilva and Unifor national representative Daniel St. Louis were
available to answer questions and provide further updates regarding this
issue to the membership.
I appreciate that summer is a busy time
for everyone and not everyone was able to attend the meeting. The
following overview will help to ensure that all members are kept
informed.
In May of 2013, Unifor won the grievance pertaining to
the Blue Pass flight benefits language (Article 20.08) in the former
Handlex CAW Local 2002 collective agreement.
Arbitrator
Claude Martin’s judgement (in part):
Servisair is bound
by the obligations contracted by Handlex vis-à-vis its employees,
pursuant to both Section 44 of the Labour Code and to the provisions of
the collective agreements relevant to the case at hand. Handlex
undertook to offer its employees travel benefits comparable, or even
identical, to those granted by Air Transat to its employees. By means of
clear provisions agreed to with each of the unions, it gave them the
assurance that all the benefits contained in the agreement, without
exception, would be maintained if the company were to change ownership.
Finally, the law is clear: in the case where an employer sells his
business, the collective agreement applicable to the seller’s employees
is binding on the buyer.
In June 2013, the company notified
the union that it was appealing the arbitrator’s decision. It took
nearly a year, but on April 3, 2014 Servisair’s request for a judicial
review on the travel pass arbitration decision was denied by the
presiding judge at the Superior Court of Quebec.
A hearing before
Arbitrator Martin was scheduled for June 23, 2014 in Montreal to settle
the final claim. Prior to this, the arbitrator asked the company and the
union to participate in a conference call. The call took place on June
18 and it was clear that both parties were far apart on agreeing what
the terms of the award should look like.
The next step
will be a hearing on September 15. In preparation, the arbitrator has
asked that the following information is collected from former Handlex
members:
1. Name and seniority date (To compare with data provided by the
company).
2. Confirmation of full time or part time status (To
confirm pass entitlement)
3. The number of passes you have
accumulated since 2011 based on your status (To compare with data
provided by the company)
4. If you have travelled since 2011, copies
or receipts of any tickets if you have them (Required for claim purposes
from Servisair)
Your workplace leadership have done a tremendous job collecting this
information to date. If you have not already provided this
information to your district officers, please do so as soon as possible.
Throughout this frustrating and lengthy process the company has
made every attempt to stall the process of justice. We would like to
thank each and every one of you for your continued patience and assure
you that we are committed to ensuring that our members get what is
rightfully owed to them as per the language in their collective
agreement.
By staying strong and united, justice will
prevail.
Information
meetings for our members in and Vancouver have also been scheduled:
The Toronto meeting will be on Monday, August 18 at the Sheraton Gateway
from 10:00-12:00 at the Pyramid room and from 14:00-16:00 in the Lugano
Room. The Vancouver meeting is on Thursday, September 11 from
18:00-20:00 and the location will be announced as soon as it is
confirmed.
As always, if you have any further questions or
concerns regarding this or any other workplace issue, your local elected
leadership are happy to assist you. In addition, I encourage all of you
to go onto our website at unifor2002.org and click onSubscribe! in order to receive news alerts directly into your email
box. br>
IIn
solidarity,
Cheryl Robinson
Unifor Local 2002 President