TORONTO CUPE members have voted to ratify the new collective agreement negotiated between Air Canada and the union representing its 6,500 flight attendants, said CUPE Air Canada Component President Pamela Sachs.
Seventy per cent of members supported ratification. Voting concluded at noon today, July 8.
This new collective agreement represents significant sacrifices made by our members to once again save Air Canada, said Sachs. For two years in a row our members have voted to make concessions out of their pockets while management attempts to walk away with a bonus.
Its time for a change. Our members expect their considerable financial sacrifices to turn this airline around, not to fill managements pockets. That is going to require change at the top. We need to see a change in managements philosophy and toward the people that make the airline work: its employees, said Sachs.
Concessions from employees will not be enough to keep Air Canada flying and to ensure it becomes the preeminent carrier it can be, concluded Sachs.
All of Air Canadas unionized employees reached new tentative agreements with the airline following concessionary negotiations in May. Air Canada said it needed to achieve concessions negotiated by the unions in 2003 in order to successfully restructure by securing a new financing deal and exiting bankruptcy protection.
Information:
Alejandra Bravo
(416) 798-3399 ext. 270
(416) 305-8095 cell.
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