Predictably, More Strife at Air Canada
More Air Canada flights were cancelled today as some pilots apparently called in sick. This is just another brick in the dismissal wall of labour relations that is Air Canada. I’ve already walked through some of the issues that arise in the case of pilots calling in sick here (is calling ‘sick’ a strike?) and here (can it be illegal to call in fatigued when law prohibits flying when fatigued?).
I also discussed and posted the pleadings in a Charter challenge filed by the Air Canada pilots against the Feds’ ‘stay-at-work’ legislation.
Yesterday, the Air Canada pilots union released this document showing a break down of Air Canada operating costs, and comparisons of Air Canada pilot salaries and raises compared to: (1) pilots at other Canadian airlines and (2) Air Canada executives. The claim is that Air Canada’s economic problems are not a result of pilot salaries. The pilots are angry at the employer, who it feels disrespects them, and at the government, for repeatedly intervening on the side of the employer.
Whether you agree with the pilots’ tactics or not, it seems clear that the government’s interventions are not stopping labour unrest or work stoppages at Air Canada. This isn’t surprising if you know anything about labour history. Workers will resist when they feel an unfair system is being thrust upon them, especially workers that have some power. Like pilots. The unfair system is the Tory government’s Stay-at-Work legislation which, rather than imposing a system of neutral arbitration, imposes an arbitration system stacked in favour of the employer. That is the greatest mystery in this story to me.
If the government were truly concerned that a work stoppage at Air Canada would wreak havoc on the economy, why would it not just refer the matter to arms-length arbitration, allow the parties to select an agreeable arbitrator, and then let the arbitrator listen to the arguments and make a decision? What would be so terrible about that? The pilots might still have been angry about losing the right to strike, but at least they might have perceived the alternative mechanism as neutral and fair. That alone might have prevented the current disputes.
Yet that is not what Minister Raitt and PM Harper did. They insisted on giving the Minister the right to select the arbitrator rather than leaving it to the parties to agree on someone, on limiting the arbitrator’s discretion to selecting either the unions or the employers’ proposal, and then directing the arbitrator to give special emphasis in making that selection to the employer’s competitive concerns rather than the pilots various concerns. As I’ve said before, either the state is trying to side with the employer, or it isn’t, in which case it should not be involved in trying to influence the arbitrator’s discretion in a private business dispute.
I’ve also wondered aloud why Air Canada doesn’t propose or agree with the pilots’ union to bypass the government’s unnecessarily provocative arbitration model and design their own neutral model chaired by a leading and respected arbitrator. That would seem to be one sensible way forward to ease tensions and get on with rebuilding a healthy relationship. But I’m not in the bargaining room, so I can’t say what is being discussed. Maybe the Pilots don’t want arbitration in any form. Or perhaps Air Canada prefers the government’s model, for obvious reasons. If that is the case, it shows how government intervention in labour disputes can actually worsen relations. Since the government’s skewed model is the default model, there is less incentive for the employer to move back to a fairer and more neutral position. This leaves the workers with no other mechanism to resist the government’s model but to engage in actions that are disruptive to the employer.
What do you think? Do you think that the Federal government’s form of intervention in the Air Canada dispute has benefited or harmed Air Canada?
Do you think the government’s intervention is fair to the pilots?
What do you think of the pilots’ efforts to resist the model?
Zammy Singh
April 13, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Prof Doorey- you seem to have hit the nail squarely on the proverbial head. To take it one step further, it seems that Air Canada is deliberately walking down a road towards CCAA while lining up their scapegoats ( pilots, mechanics etc). The Board of Directors seems complicit in this- They would not allow the CEO to run this course under normal bargaining would they?
Question: What is the legal ramification of a Board & CEO deliberately driving a federally regulated company towards bankruptcy? Can they be sued/charged? What means are available to the employee groups to stop them & replace them before this happens?
lovlos
April 17, 2012 at 9:21 am
I wrote this letter in late March and sent it to both Lisa Raitt’s office and the office of the President of Air Canada. No response from either…surprise, surprise….:-)
I am writing not only as a proud OSSTF union member in the Province of Ontario but also as a concerned citizen who is watching as the Government of Canada, under the leadership of Stephen Harper, begins to “union bust” without care or concern for collective bargaining rights.
Unionized workers built… Canada and without their massive amount of blood, sweat and tears, Canadian workers, unionized and non-unionized, wouldn’t have the universal eight hour day, livable wages, vacation time, health care and benefits that so many of us do enjoy today. Between 1919 – 1920 there were over 1500 strikes across the country. Don’t insult the memories of those brave workers who fought for the future but instead stand up and tell your MP that you want all unionized workers to have the ability to bargain in good faith!
Collective bargaining was first recognized in Canada in 1937, yet in 2012 the Conservative government has decided to pass legislation to send multiple labour disputes at Air Canada to binding arbitration. Over 11,000 workers, including pilots, baggage handlers and other ground crew, have lost their collective bargaining rights and this is wrong! Labour Minister Lisa Raitt states that a work stoppage at Air Canada is something the country can’t afford yet Air Canada is NOT an essential service and this is nothing more than an attack on workers’ rights.
This truly is a sad day for all unionized workers in Canada because any one of you can be called “essential” and legislated back to work. Any one of you can be told that your job action will negatively affect economic growth in Canada and any one of you can be told that labour relations are a thing of the past. This is completely undermining free collective bargaining and it is a model that the Provincial government is surely eyeing in upcoming negotiations with Teachers and Education Support Staff this fall. Don’t be fooled by Mr. McGuinty’s YOUTUBE videos espousing his gratitude for those who teach and support your children in school because this decision regarding Air Canada is just one of many such actions and is an indication of things to come in the fall.
Banking executives created this universal economic disaster, not us, yet these same executives continue to accept millions of dollars in bonuses and we slowly lose everything we’ve fought to achieve. The government continues to provide Corporate Tax Cuts and the old saying “the rich get richer…” seems more truthful than ever before! Stand up, stand strong and stand united for what this great country was built on. The last time I looked no union action ever brought the worlds’ economy to its knees!
I personally want my airline workers well paid and well represented. Give these Air Canada pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers, schedulers and grounds crews a pat on the back and call your local MP to let them know this is isn’t right!