September 1, 2020 at 4:00 PM
Following a series of ratification meetings which took place between Thursday, August 27 and Monday, August 31, the Unifor-Canadian North Tentative Agreement has been rejected by a 66% percent margin, despite the Union’s recommendation of acceptance. The key sticking point for the first collective agreement of the merged First Air and Canadian North airlines was the company’s intended changes to the pension and benefits plans for all unionized and non-unionized employees.
"Our members have spoken, and it is clear that the agreement presented to them was not sufficient enough to accept," said Euila Leonard, President of Unifor Local 2002. "These are hard-working members in extreme working conditions and through this global pandemic they have gone above and beyond."
We will be requesting the assistance of a federal mediation officer by filing for conciliation under the provisions of the Canada Labour Code. We will advise the next steps in the days ahead and will forward further details once they have been established.
We would like to thank every member that took the time to attend a virtual meeting and vote on this Tentative Agreement.
In solidarity,
Canadian North Bargaining Committee
Aida Kirameddine
Bobby Zanetti
Colin Gibson
Crystal Campbell
Melinda Pedersen
Theresa Amicarelli – Assistant to the Local 2002 President
Euila Leonard – President of Unifor Local 2002
Jon Hawkins – National Unifor Representative
Leslie Dias – Unifor Director- Airlines Sector
/20-09-01 Canadian North TA notice EN.txt