Unifor files for conciliation for all members at Porter Airlines

Since negotiations for over 100 customer service representatives, ambassadors and leads at Porter Airlines commenced on January 23, 2015, your District 362 bargaining committee have met with the company on six different occasions. 

Our members at Porter have made it clear that they want their first collective agreement to reflect fairness and respect in the workplace. The committee has made some progress towards this goal, but in order to accelerate the process of negotiations, Unifor has filed a Notice of Dispute with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) for all of our members at Porter - in customer service and on the ramp. 

The conciliation process: 

Once a Notice of Dispute is filed, the Ministry of Labour has 15 days to appoint a conciliation officer. Once appointed, the officer meets with both parties over a 60 day period to facilitate negotiations. If the parties feel they are close to reaching a resolution they may agree to extend the conciliation period. If not, the parties enter a 21 day "cooling off period” and the officer reports back to the Minister of Labour. While in conciliation, the company may not lock-out employees and the union may not go on strike. Strike action is only ever taken as a last resort and after certain conditions (such as a strike vote and 72 hours’ advance notice) are met. 

Local 2002 has a booklet entitled Workplace Power: Elements of Collective Bargaining that explains the bargaining process more fully. If you would like a copy of the above, or have any further questions, please contact Theresa Amicarelli. 

Your union is confident that we can achieve a positive first agreement for our members at Porter Airlines. We are looking forward resuming negotiations, with the assistance of the conciliator, during the week of April 20-24, 2015. We will continue to keep you informed when bargaining reconvenes.

In solidarity,

Heather Back

Carlos Denaro

David Robinson

Theresa Amicarelli, Local 2002 Assistant to the President

Joel Fournier, Unifor National Representative