TO ALL IAMAW MEMBERS
AIR CANADA – CLERICAL BARGAINING UNIT
RE: ARBITRATION AWARD FOR MEMBERS DENIED THEIR BUMPING RIGHTS
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
A grievance was filed last year to address the Company’s egregious decision to deny
Clerical members the right to bump while the Canadian Government had been
supplying the Company with the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).
The Company had taken it upon itself to invalidate members right to bump under the
Clerical Collective Agreement because of the Covid-19 global pandemic and the fact
they were paying CEWS to members laid-off.
The District 140 took issue with this right away as the purpose of having these clauses
in our contract are specifically to give the most amount of protection as possible to
affected members when economic situations go awry. We had explained to the
Company that invalidating them in times of need would be completely contradictory.
Even with our members’ wages being subsidized by 75% by the Federal Government,
the Company decided to try and deny some of our members their collectively agreed to
rights by crying foul.
The grievance was presented on February 18th, in front of Arbitrator Corinn Bell and a
decision was rendered last week in favour of the Union and its membership. The affected
members will be compensated for their losses.
On a final note, the District 140 would like to remind all its members that just because
we are in a very serious situation due to the global pandemic does not mean your
contract is null and void. Collective Agreements are worth their most when situations
like this come about and must be protected and enforced. Union members have rights
under our Collective Agreements and we will defend them!
In solidarity,
Guillaume Lingat
General Chairperson
Eastern Region
