Conciliation Officer Appointed
The dates have been confirmed for the conciliation officer. The dates are July 22nd & 23rd, 2009
Negotiation Update May 6-8 2009
Please click on the Financial Proposal May 7 2009 above to view the PDF document of the employers proposal.
We met with the employer Wednesday May 6th through to Friday May 8th. The employer began this bargaining session with a speech about the state of the current economy and Air Canada’s predicament, all of which your negotiating team was entirely well aware of. The employer went on at length about the value of our monetary proposal package and the fact that “their” Airport was leading all Airports in Canada areas of the collective agreement. The employer requested that we show them where our true priorities lay.
Later on the 1st day your negotiating team provided the employer with a number of priority areas (leave, premiums, benefits, cost of doing business and bargaining unit work) where the employer should put their energies and their resources. We also withdrew a number of proposals to further entice the employer. Lastly, we clearly indicated that we were not “married” to specifics of our remaining proposals.
On Thursday the employer tabled a document entitled “Comprehensive Proposal to Conclude a Collective Agreement”. The employer’s presentation reiterated the redundant speech related to the economy and Air Canada. Their offer was as follows:
1. 2 year agreement with a general economic increase of 1.25% in year one and 1.5% in year two;
2. minor improvement to the dental;
3. minor improvement to the definition of family in the bereavement article;
4. minor improvement to the definition of family in the leave with pay for family related responsibilities.
After a caucus meeting and a thorough discussion on where we were at and where we were going your negotiating team responded to the employer later that morning. We requested that they table a real proposal that would move us towards a face to face negotiated settlement.
Later Thursday afternoon the employer advised your negotiating team that they would have a proposal for us on Friday morning. Unfortunately, the employer’s “proposal” was nothing more than another speech by the employer with a challenge to our team that we should table a proposal that we would be happy with.
Our team met in caucus and following another thorough discussion we were unanimous that we had come to the end of face to face negotiations. We advised the employer that we would be applying for the assistance of a federal conciliation officer.
We will provide additional information regarding the conciliation process next week. In addition, we will be scheduling information sessions in the coming weeks so that you will have the opportunity to meet with the negotiation team. More information on when and where those information sessions will take place will be provided next week.
In Solidarity
Local 20221 Negotiating Team.