Dear Prime Minister Carney, Minister Hajdu, and Mr. Rousseau,
On behalf of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) and our tens of thousands of members across Canada, I am affirming our union’s support to the 10,000+ Air Canada flight attendants who are currently on the picket line at airports across the country.
As a regular customer of Air Canada both as an organization and as individuals, we are collectively calling on you, Mr. Rousseau, and your team at Air Canada, to roll up your sleeves, get down to work and, in good faith, negotiate a fair settlement with the union, the Air Canada Component of CUPE. These workers deserve your attention to address their core concern of unpaid work when they perform duties on the ground including boarding assistance, pre-flight safety checks, and dealing with flight delays.
Additionally, our union is calling on you, Prime Minister Carney, and you, Minister Hajdu, to immediately withdraw the order under s. 107 of the Canada Labour Code to end the legal strike by the Air Canada Component of CUPE and reaffirm the Charter-protected rights of these workers to strike.
It is unconscionable, for a country that prides itself as being a champion of human rights, for a company to expect workers to work on average 35 hours a month for free as Air Canada flight attendants are expected to do.
It is even more unconscionable for a government that touts itself as one that supports working people and families to be willing to trample on those same workers’ rights within hours of the workers’ exercising their Charter-protected rights.
These workers deserve to have a fair contract that compensates them appropriately for the work they do for Air Canada, whether that’s on the ground or in the air. The path to resolving this labour dispute is through negotiation, not legislation.
Sincerely,
Annette Toth
President, Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union