Wednesday March 7, 2007
For Immediate Release
Toronto, ON – Air Canada workers at London’s Heathrow International airport have emerged with their jobs secured following another attempt by the airline to subcontract their work in the name of fiscal responsibility.
On February 15, 2007, Air Canada informed the Transport and General Workers Union representing ramp, baggage, grooming and load department workers and AMICUS representing ground support equipment workers, that it signed a letter of intent to outsource their work. This news came on the eve of the merger of the two unions under the TGWU banner.
Under the terms of their collective agreement, the TGWU has the right to provide a business plan of its own to keep the work in house. Following two weeks of hard bargaining a deal was struck to preserve the 275 affected jobs but the price was steep.
Again the big issue on the bargaining table was pensions.
In order to keep the jobs, TGWU had no choice but to close the pension plan to new hires. “It is with great regret that this step has had to be taken but it was our only way to bridge the gap and keep the work in house,” said a source from TGWU.
“This just re-enforces what IAMAW members in Canada have known all along that nobody’s job at Air Canada is safe if there is a dollar to be saved,” said IAMAW Airline Coordinator Carlos DaCosta. “If we are to succeed, solidarity must be maintained no matter where union members are located.”
