August 12, 2009 at 9:00 PM
BARGAINING UPDATE
The Bargaining Committee with the employer August 10 and 11 in Toronto with a constructive position to bargain a new agreement. Conversely, the Company has moved very little since our last round of discussions and since our recent base visits.
The Company continues to refuse to move off of their demands for increases in “Availability, Flexibility and Productivity.”
These demands would result in:
Vacation and Time Bank
- Substantial reductions in Vacation Availability
- Reduction of Time Bank Conversion to biddable Vacation
- Ability for members to change days on or off to accommodate vacation and sick time and to meet the needs of the Company
Hours of Work and Overtime
- Change available standard schedules to allow for shorter night and afternoon shifts
- Move members around between crews and shifts by qualification to meet the needs of the company without use of seniority
- Mandatory overtime
- Straight time if you miss a regular shift not over-time
- No double-time overtime
- Time and one half for continuous duty and regular time for the rest period
Training
- Reduce training opportunity for M Classification ACA members
- Reduce training opportunity for E Classification ACA members
- Freeze members on the non ACA scale if they do not take MCM/MPM training
Wages
- The employer has not offered a suitable resolution to the B scale issue and demands to keep B scale for all groups except for ACA
The company has not responded to any of our demands on the following:
- Change in Benefit premium payment structure
- Uplift in vacation entitlement and improvements in current Vacation Language
- Increase to shift differentials
- Elimination of B Scale
- Wage Increase
- Uplift to Employer Pension Contribution
The Union and Company will be meeting with the Conciliator August 24 through 28 in Toronto.
You must attend the Strike Vote meetings for any further clarification on the above issues as well as the details on the Company’s proposals.
Now is the time to speak up and send a strong message to the Company by voting yes for Strike Action. Give your union the tools they require to bring you back a collective agreement that is acceptable.
Remember that the earliest possible date for legal job action is the first week of September (after we have given the Company 72 hours notice).
We will keep you advised on our progress at the end of August.
In Solidarity,
Jazz Tech Bargaining Committee
John Murawesky Chair
Peter Brown YYC
Ian Waite YXU
Ghobud Khorasani YYZ
Daniel Marion YUL
Dave Gylland YHZ
Roberto Lampasona Tech II