Flight attendants to protest layoffs

Air Canada employees who face layoffs following a company decision to close regional crew bases are planning a demonstration later this month.
George Bouchard of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 143 Winnipeg-based flight attendants, said the protest will be held July 28 in downtown Winnipeg.

On July 9, Air Canada announced 630 of the layoffs it had warned of in June would affect flight attendants in Winnipeg, Halifax, and Vancouver.
Details of the protest still are being worked out, Bouchard said.
Bouchard said there are workers who are devastated by the decision, and that many employees in Winnipeg are being told to move to Toronto or look for a new job.
“They’re also mad, furious that the company is doing this to them after they supported the company through so many downturns and through the merger [with Canadian Airlines],” he said.
“I have not heard of a single person who’s willing to move.”
Union officials say the only severance offer they’re aware of is $10,000 for anyone with at least 10 years’ service. People with fewer than 10 years would get nothing, said Bouchard.
Peter Fitzpatrick, an Air Canada spokesman, declined to discuss potential compensation packages.
Fitzpatrick added the company’s decision to close the bases is final.
“There won’t be any reconsideration. It’s a decision we’ve thought about long and hard, and it’s the only conclusion we could come to,” Fitzpatrick said.
Carol Eliasson, a Winnipeg-based flight attendant with 32 years’ service, said she plans to commute to Toronto for the final three years of her career before she retires, but notes it won’t be easy.
Although Air Canada employees don’t have to pay for their stand-by tickets, they still pay all taxes, airport, NavCan, and security fees.
“We have to do it on our own money,” she said. “It’s going to be hard for all of us.”
Federal law requires the company and the union strike a joint committee to find alternatives to layoffs and ways of helping mitigate their impact, but Air Canada applied to Labour minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn last month to have that requirement waived.
Bouchard said he expects a ruling on that matter will come by July 24.