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Toronto - Flight attendants at Air Transat have requested that the federal Minister of Labour appoint a conciliator to assist them in negotiating a new contract, in a joint application submitted by the union and the company. The flight attendants, who are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), have been in negotiations since December, 2001.

“We need to move this to the next phase,” says Charlie Ezerzer, president of the Air Transat component of CUPE. “We remain quite far apart from the employer on some of the major issues in bargaining, including wages, and we hope the assistance of a conciliator will bring us closer together. Flight attendants at Air Transat remain among the lowest-paid in the industry. If this employer wants to continue delivering a quality service to passengers, they will recognize the value of their front-line workers, and pay them accordingly.”

“Flight attendants are safety professionals,” says Marilyne White, CUPE national representative, “and they deserve to be paid as such. At current Air Transat wages, many flight attendants must hold down a second job to get by. If flight attendants are to treat jobs at Air Transat as a career - as anything more than a stepping stone to better employment, then we must see some major movement from this employer.”

CUPE represents 1,170 flight attendants at Air Transat, located at bases in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

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For further information:
Marilyne White, CUPE National representative
(416) 798-3399 (work) – (416) 788-2891 (cell)
Charlie Ezerzer, president, Air Transat component of CUPE
(416) 884-2818
Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications
(416) 738-4329