Air Canada prepares to lock out pilots Monday

[Tik-Tok]

Locking them out would effectively render the Bag Chuckers/Ground Crews/Mechanics potential strike useless, lol. I feel bad for the AME's though. They make jack-shit for working on heavies because the bag chuckers and ground crews always have more votes than them.

After giving its pilots an ultimatum to accept a final offer for a new labour contract, Air Canada is preparing to lock out its pilots effective midnight Eastern Time, on Monday morning.

The airline had given its pilots a deadline of noon Eastern Time on Thursday to accept its "final offer" for a new collective agreement. The Air Canada Pilots Association says the offer was nearly identical to one already rejected by the pilots at the end of January, and says the airline has threatened to "pursue any and all rights afforded to it by law" should the pilots turn it down.

Although the union executive recommends rejecting the offer, Air Canada's roughly 3,000 pilots will now vote on that offer, the union said in a release.

"The vote is not the result of a tentative agreement," a statement from the pilots' union said. "There is no agreement. The association is recommending that the pilots reject the offer."

The latest developments come 24 days into a federally appointed mediation process, which was supposed to last for 180 days.

If the pilots reject the offer, the carrier can lock them out as of Monday morning, as Air Canada has now given the mandatory 72-hours notice to do so starting early Monday morning.
Source (and more article)

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
because the bag chuckers and ground crews always have more votes than them.

amazing how that works doesn't it, a person with one of the highest levels responsibilites/owness gets paid not even close to what their actually worth in regards to this industry.

[bart]

arent the baggage handlers generic? or does each airline have their own? what about foreign airlines?

[CapnCrunch]

So what exactly are the pilots striking over?

[revelations]

^ the pilots gave up pay and other concessions years ago to help AC during the bankruptcy period, now they want some of that back.

Personally, I am glad to be out of the industry - as a Tech, I was making less than some of the bag smashers.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by bart
arent the baggage handlers generic? or does each airline have their own? what about foreign airlines?

There's companies that do pure ground handling / bag smashing for whoever hires them (foreign airlines, local smaller airlines), but Air Canada has their own crews, as well as Westjet.

[kvg]

Another example of why unions are past their time of usefulness in Canada.

[Lanks]

Originally posted by kvg
Another example of why unions are past their time of usefulness in Canada.

So you're saying the pilots don't deserve wages closer to what they were making in 2003 then?

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Lanks


So you're saying the pilots don't deserve wages closer to what they were making in 2003 then?

Pilots don't deserve that high of wages either

[kvg]

Originally posted by Lanks


So you're saying the pilots don't deserve wages closer to what they were making in 2003 then?

AC actually should cut costs even more after loosing $250m last year, not offering any type of raise.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by Lanks

So you're saying the pilots don't deserve wages closer to what they were making in 2003 then?

The company's losing money. Where are these wage increases supposed to come from? Doesn't matter what the pilots deserve if the money's not there.

[Lanks]

Originally posted by Feruk

The company's losing money. Where are these wage increases supposed to come from? Doesn't matter what the pilots deserve if the money's not there.

I agree that a company should not be handing out raises to employees when they are losing money, however i think management compensation should be looked at as well. The CEO for example gets a 5 million dollar bonus at the end of march.. for a company that lost 250 million last year under his control! AC is extremely management top heavy, a problem it will eventually have to address. Poor pilot compensation leads to unsafe practices (think Colgan Air crash in the US)

Unfortunately all the public cares about is cheap airfares.

[kvg]

Or maybe the pilots should quit and go work somewhere that will pay them fairly, like..............

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by Lanks

The CEO for example gets a 5 million dollar bonus at the end of march..

They'll make up some bullshit excuse that he was promised that in the contract while things were going well

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by kvg
Or maybe the pilots should quit and go work somewhere that will pay them fairly, like..............

...the millions Air Canada paid to Celine Dion.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7mtZ...eature=related

[jdmakkord]

I'll be driving past the picket lines...on route to WJ. Smiling all the way.

[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


Pilots don't deserve that high of wages either

Bus drivers of the sky!!!!


Seriously though, if they gave up money they should probably get it back.

AC blows though.

[kvg]

Why? They did that to save jobs not to be nice, if the stood a chance of staying the same or getting more they would have pressed the issue. AC has such a bad rep because of their employees and they still want a raise

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by kvg
Why? They did that to save jobs not to be nice, if the stood a chance of staying the same or getting more they would have pressed the issue. AC has such a bad rep because of their employees and they still want a raise

Please define "stood".

[Type_S1]

I don't understand why pilots think they deserve such great wages...