Friday March 16, 2007
For Immediate Release
Toronto, ON – “Air Canada has absolutely no regard for its employee’s,” said IAMAW Canadian General Vice President Dave Ritchie.
“Families and people mean nothing to this airline. The bottom line is money!” Ritchie’s comments come after being frustrated at the lack of interest by Air Canada to cooperate with its employees about its future plans for Air Canada Technical Services or ACTS. The IAMAW has filed a complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board regarding the monetization process for ACTS and the lack of information provided by Air Canada to the Union. The IAMAW broke off talks with Air Canada in ‘board-ordered’ settlement discussions earlier this week when it became apparent the airline wouldn’t provide data about its future plans with ACTS.
“We have people in Vancouver who have recently been given lay off notices and that means there will be bumping of members across this country,” said Ritchie. “As a result our people need to make life-changing decisions about their future with this company and this information could ease the burden of those decisions. It’s quite clear to me Air Canada doesn’t care.”
“The information we’re after has been available to private investors for some weeks now and since our members are owed billions of dollars by Air Canada to their pensions, how can they be denied the same information?” asked Ritchie.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board has confirmed the hearing into this matter will resume on March 29-30, 2007.
The IAMAW, with more than 11,000 members, is the largest union at Air Canada.
