TORONTO – At emergency weekend meetings held with Air Canada at the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), an agreement was reached that will stop 1, 200 layoff notices from being issued to flight attendants on October 15th.
“We are extremely pleased that Air Canada has agreed not to issue these layoff notices on Monday,” said Judy Darcy, National President of CUPE. “We have been working hard on ways to avert these layoffs through a variety of mitigation strategies. We want to prevent any more flight attendants from being laid off involuntarily. Air Canada has to actively participate in this effort, and they have agreed to honour their promises to come to the table and work with us in good faith.”
On October 12th, CUPE filed an application with the CIRB, asking the Board to prevent Air Canada from issuing the layoff notices on Monday. The Board granted the request for a weekend hearing, but after a series of meetings between the company and the union, agreement was reached and the immediate need for a formal hearing was set aside.
The interim agreement establishes that the company will not implement further layoffs of flight attendants before November 1st, 2001. “This gives us more time to find solutions through voluntary measures,” said Darcy, “in particular if the company is prepared to work with CUPE.” Meetings between CUPE and the company will commence October 15th in Toronto.
The Airline Division of CUPE represents over 10, 000 flight attendants in Canada, including 8,000 at Air Canada.
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For further information:
Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications, cellular: (416) 738-4329