Delegates have given unanimous support to a campaign to oppose deregulation of the airline industry. An National Executive Board resolution calls upon CUPE to work with the Airline Division at the Minister’s Advisory Committee to highlight the damage caused by airline deregulation and lobby the Federal government for “smart regulation” of the industry.
Canada’s major air carriers have lost an estimated $2 billion, 15,000 jobs have been lost and consumers have had to pay higher air fares since the airline industry was deregulated in 1988.
When Canadian Airlines tried to force workers to accept a 10 per cent wage rollback in 1996 by threatening bankruptcy, CUPE and other unions pressured the federal government to establish the committee to study the future of the airline industry in Canada.