YYZ Shop Committee
Airports & Cargo
(905) 676-2484 Terminal 1 Office
(905) 694-5322 Cargo Office
UNIFOR 2002
District 301
905-676-2084
info@yyzd301.com
M-F 0700-1800
November 6, 2021
Last week the company, Workforce Planning (Bunker), held a joint meeting with the IAM and UNIFOR
leadership, Vick and Harold. At this meeting, the company announced it will permanently shut down the
Bunker starting December 1st, and all personnel from the Bunker will be moved to the ATO band.
Both the IAM and UNIFOR expressed a strong disapproval of the decision. This is yet another example
of the company overlooking the needs of their employees, making it more difficult to get a hold of a
manager to resolve important issues such as pay, shift trades, vacation, punch cards, parking, AVOP,
RAICs, and etc.
Working from a new out-of-reach location, we will only be able to contact a manager by email for help
with important things such as pay issues. Inquiries for parking passes or RAICs will require an in-person
appointment, and while we are promised appointments will be simple to book, there haven’t been any
commitments on the number of appointments available at any given time, or how it will work exactly.
We are also concerned about what happens if an issue is not getting resolved by email, but isn’t
eligible for an appointment. Issues will needlessly get escalated to higher levels, causing frustration for
employees and extra work for everyone involved.
This is clearly a first step towards outsourcing these vital and important functions that employees rely
on. The company insists this is about creating efficiencies (euphemism for cost savings), so it’s clear
that once they consider this to be the new normal, it’s not difficult to imagine a large portion of the work
of these managers will be outsourced to India or Mexico. And we all know how that story goes.
IAM and UNIFOR are unable to provide you with any more information, or to direct you to anyone
person in the company for further information. The company had no other explanation as to why or who
came up with this concept, other than it will start on December 1. All we know is that the Bunker falls
under Workforce Planning and with Senior Director Paul Loyen and Senior Manager Bryan Sequeira.
Present at the meeting were Dong Won, Mukhraj Deol, Melissa McCutcheon, Makda Hagos and Jodi
Bessey (by phone).
With over 4000 members between IAM and UNIFOR in Toronto Pearson alone, being able to interact
with a manager in-person is often much more efficient, than to try and resolve complicated matters via
an email inbox that has no service standards. We dearly feel left out and not respected in getting our
basic needs met as workers.
Vick Seebalak
Shop Committee Chairperson
IAMAW2323
Harold Bateman
District Chair
UNIFOR 2002 D301
