TORONTO, March 3 /CNW/ - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers has accused Air Canada of bargaining in bad faith following the airline's announced closure of nine of its mainline stations.
Air Canada is shifting all of its service to nine Canadian cities to its regional Jazz subsidiary - a decision that results in the layoff of 224 IAMAW members at Air Canada.
"During negotiations with Air Canada under the CCAA process, we in fact talked about and indeed modified working conditions to increase the percentage of part time workers at these stations for the real purpose of having them remain open," said IAMAW General Vice President Dave Ritchie. "Our agreements were bargained in good faith and the company is not honouring those agreements. We intend to take this issue to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board."
The closures affect gate, baggage and ground handling workers in
Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, Saint John, Quebec City, Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, Regina and White Horse.
"Air Canada is offering no severance benefits to 54 part time workers affected," said IAMAW Assistant Deputy Pete Tilley. "We met with the company on Monday to explore options for our members and they offered us nothing. They won't sweeten the severance package, they won't carry part time workers as surplus and they're going to contract out all positions at Jazz. Our full time workers have nowhere to transfer to because there are no openings." "The meeting was an exercise in futility," said Tilley.
For further information:
Peter Tilley, IAMAW Assistant Deputy, DL140,
(604) 448-0721;
Bill Trbovich, IAMAW Director of Communications,
(416) 386-1789 ext 31/(416) 735-9765
