June 14, 2021 at 5:00 PM
The Unifor 2002/Perimeter Aviation collective bargaining agreement will expire on June 22, 2021. Unfortunately, talks have stalled due to the employer’s lack of vision to negotiate a fair contract for our valued Perimeter Aviation Flight Attendants. These members are front line airline employees who have worked many charter flights throughout the pandemic in an effort to keep the company afloat.
REVIEW OF TIMELINE
In order to bargain any renewal agreement, there are a number of required processes that need to occur in advance of meeting the company, open collective bargaining and proceed with negotiations.
In December 2020, Unifor initiated the process to facilitate elections for a Unifor District Chairperson and a Unifor Bargaining Representative. Sharon Lavallee became your District Chairperson and Jessica Penner became your Bargaining Committee Representative. Your newly elected union representatives (Sharon and Jessica) along with Carmen Ledarney – Unifor National Representative and Ashley Watkins – Assistant to Local President, formed the Unifor bargaining committee.
Now that Unifor had established a working committee, the team met for the first time in February 2021 to develop a bargaining survey for distribution to the membership. 65% of the membership submitted a survey which was used to establish the [overall] 10 most important issues and concerns the members had. From this juncture, the committee was able to establish what the members priorities were for bargaining, leading them to schedule a series of virtual proposal meetings so that members could discuss firsthand the issues identified on the surveys.
Following the proposal meetings, the Unifor committee reconvened to establish the monetary and non-monetary proposals prior to meeting the company. Bargaining officially began on April 28, 2021, with the parties meeting on six dates and concluding on June 10. Unfortunately, our most recent discussions were unproductive and did not yield the results necessary to agree on language that is fair and equitable for the members.
CURRENT SITUATION
This employer is using COVID-19 as a ways and means to attack the collective agreement in order to obtain concessions from the current contract. Unifor is appalled by this position as a first collective agreement is a building-block from which to work from; outlining the basic rights that members of the bargaining unit are entitled to.
Perimeter Aviation is attempting to erode these building-block components that would significantly impact the quality of life of our valued flight attendants; this is not bargaining in good faith, regardless of the current pandemic situation.
It is clear that the union and employer are too far apart on a number of issues that arguable will deteriorate the collective agreement. What the employer is proposing at the negotiating table is unrealistic and would not be ratified by the membership. As such, we can no longer continue negotiations as it would be an exercise in futility.
On Thursday, June 10, we notified the employer that we would be filing for conciliation on Monday, June 14.
WHAT IS THE CONCILIATION PROCESS?
- Union and/or Employer files a Notice of Dispute to the Federal Minister of Labour
- Minister will appoint a Federal Conciliation Officer within 15 days
- The Conciliator will meet with Union and Employer over a 60-day period to facilitate negotiations
- The parties may agree to extend the conciliation period if negotiations are progressing
- At the end of this period, the parties enter a 21-day "cooling off period"
- Conciliator files report to the Federal Minister of Labour
- While in conciliation, the Company may not lock out employees and the Union may not take strike action. Strike action is only ever taken as a last resort and after conditions (such as a strike vote and 72 hours advance notice) are met.
Additional information concerning the conciliation process can be found via this link.
NEXT STEPS
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) will assign a conciliation officer to this dispute. Once this occurs, a schedule will be assigned outlining next meeting(s) between the union, employer and conciliation officer. Once we have these details, we will ensure to communicate the information.
For more information please contact:
Ashley Watkins, Assistant to the Local 2002 President
/21-06-14 Perimeter Aviation Update EN.txt