Air Canada Strike 2011

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I wanted to take the time to congratulate you on your new Collective Agreement.

I am very proud of what our members in Vancouver and across Canada have achieved.

This new agreement brings stability to our membership for the next 4 years with modest gains; but most of all keeps the current pension plan in place, with adjustments in January of 2013.

As your new Vice President, I tried to keep everyone informed with important information in regards to Bargaining and tried to ensure that our members felt that they were part of the Bargaining process.

In Vancouver, the spirit and solidarity of our membership was awesome!

With support from the IAMAW; who let us use their Lodge as a Strike Headquarters, CUPE, CUPW and Aeroplan, BCFED, and other affiliates, who walked the picket lines and supported the CAW, this truly exemplified what "Solidarity" means.

Although Air Canada had said "rest assured we will continue to operate our regular schedule during the strike," and that they had implemented a contingency plan to minimize the impact to their customers, the airline's management tone was its "business as usual" during the strike; but we knew better, didn't we.

The Conservative's threats of back to work legislation was a deliberate action to lower wages and erode benefits for not just CAW members, but for all Canadian workers.

Even though we agreed to a tentative agreement with Air Canada, before the bill was introduced in Parliament; we understood that if an agreement couldn't be attained before the bill was passed, that the Federal Government would impose a deal on us, like they did at CUPW (Canadian Unionized Postal Workers) recently.

By Ottawa interfering in labour negotiations between Air Canada and the CAW it has ventured into a new territory, which states that there is no difference between private/public sector companies.

This is going to be a defining moment in labour history, the topic is not about the CAW, nor is it about CUPW, it's about the actions by the Federal Government that sets a dangerous precedent for collective bargaining rights of all Canadian workers in this country, and sends the clear message that Corporate Interests will always be a more important priority than those of Canadian workers.

The Defined Benefit Pension issue at Air Canada will reappear again, and at that time, the current union movement will fight as those who fought before us, to better the working conditions of all CAW members; moving forward.

So in the next 4 years, both private and public sector workers now have a common goal; uniting to fight for the rights of ALL unionized workers.




In Solidarity,

Tim Cheung
Vice President -- Pacific Region.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Air Canada Strike
• Lisa Raitt
• Conservatives
• Air Canada
• CAW

[FuzzyHappyLemons]

can I use your video for my grade 10 "international corporations" assignment? I am presenting a speal on Air Canada

[kaikit1]

@FuzzyHappyLemons Sure. It's public. Good luck on your presentation. This is a good example of labour relations between corporations and unions.

[chuzllewit]

An excellent job , Tim. Very proud of you.

[Cessnagirl1]

Great job Tim.

[heidi491]

Well done Tim! Good to record that piece of important history.