Airboss
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AIRLINES
Air Canada pilots strafe each other over seniority
Warring camps want company to revive Boeing plane purchase -- on their terms
Friday, June 24, 2005 Page B4
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
TORONTO -- Feuding factions within the Air Canada Pilots Association are clashing over seniority rankings as they mount rival campaigns to entice management to agree to union conditions for reviving cancelled orders for new jets.
In airline union infighting, seniority is crucial because it determines which pilot wins better-paid assignments on larger planes, and sets priorities for vacation time.
On one side are pilots who formerly worked for Canadian Airlines International Ltd. (CAI) and on the other are employees who call themselves Original Air Canada (OAC) pilots since they were hired by the Montreal-based carrier.
While both sides in the union say they want Air Canada to renew talks with Boeing Inc., they are basing such support on competing agendas: The ex-CAI camp backs the status quo on seniority while the OAC side is seeking wholesale changes in the rankings.
Captain Rob McInnis, of the ex-CAI camp, said yesterday it's unfortunate that Air Canada had to cancel its Boeing order after 54 per cent of unionized pilots who cast ballots last week on a tentative labour pact voted to reject the offer.
"The vote, in our opinion, was hijacked by a vocal minority of Original Air Canada pilots who were not satisfied with the pilot seniority list," he said yesterday. "The hijackers' behaviour reflects badly on the maturity and professional image of all Air Canada pilots."
One-third of the 3,000 pilots eligible to vote did not cast ballots on a proposed contract for flying the new Boeings. Air Canada made its plane purchase contingent on the pilots' approval of the offer.
Capt. McInnis, 56, said the vote should have been focused on the "reasonable" labour offer and not the "external" issue of seniority.
But Glen Phillips, one of the OAC pilot leaders, said former CAI pilots enjoy an unfair advantage.
Mr. Phillips, 44, said computer printouts of the bottom one-third of the seniority list show that OAC pilots' names outnumber ex-CAI pilots' names by eight-to-one.
"We have a difficult time understanding how that can be viewed as fair, and so we're asking for fairness," Mr. Phillips said.
He wants federal Labour Minister Joe Fontana to intervene by bringing Air Canada management and feuding pilots together to find some middle ground. A meeting between OAC lawyers and Labour Department officials is tentatively set for next week.
Air Canada acquired Calgary-based CAI in early 2000.
Both Capt. McInnis and Mr. Phillips said time is running out for Air Canada to salvage its order for new Boeing 777s, but that model isn't crucial to the wide-body fleet since the airline has relatively new Airbus A330s and A340s.
However, with aging Boeing 767s slated for retirement starting in 2010, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is seen as an important replacement model for the 767, the pilots said.
Mr. Phillips said that he and other pilots who voted No to Air Canada's labour offer for flying the 777s and 787s aren't making any apologies for scuttling the purchase.
"We needed to be heard on seniority concerns," he said. "We're confident there is a fair and equitable solution out there and that we can find it quickly," he said.
The squabbling has spilled into the courts, with OAC pilots vowing to appeal a recent Federal Court of Canada judgment that upheld the merged seniority list developed in 2003 by arbitrator Brian Keller.
Capt. McInnis urged Air Canada chairman Robert Milton to ignore lobbying by OAC pilots to revamp the seniority system, saying they should "get over it" and stop their "childish bickering."
Air Canada declined comment.
Air Canada pilots strafe each other over seniority
Warring camps want company to revive Boeing plane purchase -- on their terms
Friday, June 24, 2005 Page B4
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
TORONTO -- Feuding factions within the Air Canada Pilots Association are clashing over seniority rankings as they mount rival campaigns to entice management to agree to union conditions for reviving cancelled orders for new jets.
In airline union infighting, seniority is crucial because it determines which pilot wins better-paid assignments on larger planes, and sets priorities for vacation time.
On one side are pilots who formerly worked for Canadian Airlines International Ltd. (CAI) and on the other are employees who call themselves Original Air Canada (OAC) pilots since they were hired by the Montreal-based carrier.
While both sides in the union say they want Air Canada to renew talks with Boeing Inc., they are basing such support on competing agendas: The ex-CAI camp backs the status quo on seniority while the OAC side is seeking wholesale changes in the rankings.
Captain Rob McInnis, of the ex-CAI camp, said yesterday it's unfortunate that Air Canada had to cancel its Boeing order after 54 per cent of unionized pilots who cast ballots last week on a tentative labour pact voted to reject the offer.
"The vote, in our opinion, was hijacked by a vocal minority of Original Air Canada pilots who were not satisfied with the pilot seniority list," he said yesterday. "The hijackers' behaviour reflects badly on the maturity and professional image of all Air Canada pilots."
One-third of the 3,000 pilots eligible to vote did not cast ballots on a proposed contract for flying the new Boeings. Air Canada made its plane purchase contingent on the pilots' approval of the offer.
Capt. McInnis, 56, said the vote should have been focused on the "reasonable" labour offer and not the "external" issue of seniority.
But Glen Phillips, one of the OAC pilot leaders, said former CAI pilots enjoy an unfair advantage.
Mr. Phillips, 44, said computer printouts of the bottom one-third of the seniority list show that OAC pilots' names outnumber ex-CAI pilots' names by eight-to-one.
"We have a difficult time understanding how that can be viewed as fair, and so we're asking for fairness," Mr. Phillips said.
He wants federal Labour Minister Joe Fontana to intervene by bringing Air Canada management and feuding pilots together to find some middle ground. A meeting between OAC lawyers and Labour Department officials is tentatively set for next week.
Air Canada acquired Calgary-based CAI in early 2000.
Both Capt. McInnis and Mr. Phillips said time is running out for Air Canada to salvage its order for new Boeing 777s, but that model isn't crucial to the wide-body fleet since the airline has relatively new Airbus A330s and A340s.
However, with aging Boeing 767s slated for retirement starting in 2010, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is seen as an important replacement model for the 767, the pilots said.
Mr. Phillips said that he and other pilots who voted No to Air Canada's labour offer for flying the 777s and 787s aren't making any apologies for scuttling the purchase.
"We needed to be heard on seniority concerns," he said. "We're confident there is a fair and equitable solution out there and that we can find it quickly," he said.
The squabbling has spilled into the courts, with OAC pilots vowing to appeal a recent Federal Court of Canada judgment that upheld the merged seniority list developed in 2003 by arbitrator Brian Keller.
Capt. McInnis urged Air Canada chairman Robert Milton to ignore lobbying by OAC pilots to revamp the seniority system, saying they should "get over it" and stop their "childish bickering."
Air Canada declined comment.
