Canadian North Customer Service: Staff reductions and northern living allowance

November 4, 2016 at 12:08 PM

Temporary Staff Reductions
 
On November 3, the union was approached by the company to advise that it will have to reduce staff in both airport and cargo locations in Iqaluit. This is due to the maintenance checks on Canadian North aircraft from January 5 to February 28, 2017.
 
The union is working with the company to mitigate layoffs through the Leave of Absence (LOA) process. The company will post a bulletin asking for volunteers to take a LOA for the dates in question, requests will be granted by seniority. If there are not enough LOA requests the parties will meet again to discuss next steps. The target date to complete this process is December 5. We encourage anyone who is interested in a LOA to submit their requests as soon as possible.
 
Northern Living Allowance
 
Your union has been working diligently with the company to correct the payout of the northern living allowance to our part time membership. This issue has been raised at several UMHQ meetings held throughout the year and the company agreed to conduct an audit. The audit revealed that part time members were not being paid the northern allowance as per LOA #3 (Letter of Understanding) in our current collective agreement (#7).  As a result, all members affected will be contacted by the company in the coming week and all monies owed will be paid out by November 10, 2016.
 
This audit also revealed an overpayment of the northern living allowance for some members who will be contacted to make arrangements for repayment.
 
The union will continue to keep you updated with any further developments regarding these issues. Please contact your union representative if you have any further questions.
 
In solidarity,
 
Aida Kirameddine - District Chairperson
Theresa Amicarelli - Assistant to the Local President