July 15, 2009 at 12:00 PM
JULY 15, 2009
The usual end of the month conference call was rescheduled to be after the latest round of negotiations. As usual, the District Chairs, Vice Chairs and Bargaining Committee members are given the opportunity to get on a Coast to Coast conference call and report what is going on at their bases.
- 711: Vancouver - Tom Troughton, John Murawesky, Don Ross, and Gary Hargreaves
Tom reported that the membership is anxious to hear back from the Bargaining Committee after the last bulletin. Vancouver has just completed a shift bid vote. The result was 77% in favour of retaining the 4-5-5 shift which was implemented last year. Currently Vancouver is grievance-free. All the grievances that we have been previously filed this year have had outcomes in our favour. The 8pm to 8am shift still remains an issue, however, Jazz has commented that AC dictates that we need that shift to maintain their flight schedule. There was hope that the change in Maintenance Management would translate to this shift being moved back to a more reasonable time. We have however seen some permanent ramp positions reinstated in Vancouver, which is positive.
- 712: Calgary/Edmonton/Winnipeg - Peter Brown, Jim Sofonoff, and George Moniz
George reported that Edmonton is short staffed and overworked as usual. They are short a sixth person and only have one guy on days, the rest are night shift. No one seems to want to work there. The open position was posted, with two bids last time, but both guys declined. If there are planes broken, they can get guys from Calgary to come up for the day. Spar has shut down locally and you would think that we could get a guy from that group. There is a hangar available on an ad hoc basis, but only for limited times. We are still looking for health and safety person in Edmonton.
Calgary – Peter Brown has communicated that District 712 is grievance free. They have added a couple of new hires to add to the roster.
- 713: London - Michel Ruffie
Michel already has space reserved at Local 27 for the July 28 meeting. To be clear, this is not a strike vote on the 28th, just a face-to-face meeting with the committee for an update. Michel had been suspended for 3 days, but this is an ongoing active grievance at the Step 2 level. We have had some new employees hired in London, approximately 5 “M’s”, and an additional Ground Vehicle Maintenance person. We are expecting 6 more Sheet Metal technicians in the near future. There are 13 grievances at Step 1 and five more at Step 2. Recently, CAMFA was able to come in to the cafeteria for three hours to address members, but there was little interest. Recently there have been some harassment cases in London which have been addressed. Michel strongly suggests for everyone to contact Jonathan Cristo (Benefit Representative) for ‘return to work’ issues as he has been very helpful. London has conducted a survey for shifts, and should be back to the 5-4-4 shift for next year. There have been lots of CAP (Culpable Absentee Program) meetings lately, but the Company are calling them “discussions”. Jazz is of course looking for patterns, but when you look at the big picture there is no pattern. Blake Bentley has stepped down as Vice Chair and Larry Thibert has volunteered to step in until we run an election for the open position. Scott McDonald is one of our Health and Safety alternates and has unfortunately been in a car accident. Rocky Jarra will be filling in until his return. We wish Scott a speedy recovery.
- 714: Montreal/Quebec City/Ottawa - Daniel Marion, Craig Hirtle, Roberto Lampasona, Patrick Chiasson
The membership has raised some questions pertaining to bargaining, and we have arranged meetings on July 16 & 17. The reps in Montreal have been talking with the Base Manager about next years shifts, and he is in agreement that the 8pm to 8am is not effective. He thinks that we maybe be able to change it for next year. The 4x3 day shift has had many volunteers. Currently, there are not any grievances at Step 1, and four grievances at Step 2 concerning time bank.
Rob reports that he is in contact with one of the members in Vancouver over an issue, but other than that, operations are good in Tech 2. The members are of course anxious to see what comes out of bargaining.
Craig reports that Ottawa is sitting at 10 members, and all is calm.
- 715: Halifax - Patrick McNiven (Acting Chairperson)
The most asked about item is an update on our negotiations. Halifax is trying to implement a Mentorship program for new hires. There are open positions in the “S” category that are not being filled. The Upholstery shop has discovered two things that Jazz was trying to contract out. A grievance was filed and is pending, and at this point there hasn’t been any contracting out.
- 716: Toronto - Ghobud Khorasani, Mike Lilly, Stewart Warren
Mike and the Vice Chairs had a meeting with the new head of maintenance Andrew McMaster. Starting July 2 they have been having daily crew meetings in Toronto. Overtime and special assignments have generated approximately 70 grievances. They are leaning towards having a Union rep or a crew chief present when the calls go out. Last year Arbitrator Teplitsky asked if we could do this, but the company has stated that they will monitor it instead. However when we asked the Company for tracking proof, they were not able to provide it. Mike has been told that the 8-8 shift is Air Canada driven. Toronto was having problems with the uniform cleaning, and now has a twice per week pick up service.
Road trip expense forms that were created by the former Base Manager are still only being used in Toronto. Russ stated that he could get rid of it but it could cause delays if they have to go searching for information. Jazz is looking at modifying the e-trip site so it would capture that information. Shift options for next year have been discussed and we will be voting on them soon. Mike asked that the Company to go over all the disciplinary letters but they declined saying to follow the grievance procedure. Unfortunately we still have not been able to get the District Chair shift that we have had in the past, even though we can make a strong case for it. Mike has seven outstanding grievances that he has written, but we are still processing through the other open grievances. Toronto Stores had a problem with Overtime calculation, however, Mike had a meeting where this issue was resolved. The membership meeting on June 30th found the membership primarily interested in bargaining.
Note: Just a reminder to everyone. Please be vigilant and report cases of contracting out to your Union Rep.
Also on the Call - Ashley Watkins (Executive Assistant East)
Staring July 27, the Bargaining Committee will be on a national road show. Montreal has previously scheduled meetings that they want to stay on schedule with July 16th & 17th.
Next negotiations are scheduled for July 23 & 24 in Toronto.
Calendar of events - Can be found on the Local’s Website www.caw2002tca.ca under Districts section, Jazz Technical Services, for more dates.
In Solidarity,
Don Ross
CAW VP Local 2002
Jazz Technical Services
(800) 932-4564 ext: *5004