Guest George Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Well, I thought I might say a few words to the 30,000 or so people who are represented by unions at AC... The airline world is changing. Period. This is not a conspiracy created by Mr Milton and his VPs. Look around. Almost without exception every full service carrier has been or is very near big trouble financially. As Mr Milton said (and I have been saying for several months), we are going through the "Walmart-ization" of the aviation industry in Canada and the world. Look at the growth/shrinkage rates of the world's airlines. Full service- shrink, "low cost" grow. Period! Ask unbiased observors what they think of the current business plan (Read - TSE, check out the value of your latest ESOP statement and divide that in half again). Compare our layoffs against the full service US airlines, we come off smelling like roses, for several reasons, including Mr Miltons's leadership. Yes many AC unions have "no-layoff clauses" in their Collective Agreements. I used to think that this was great. Now, I think that this is the stupidest thing to put in a CA. Why? Because if the comany is doin well, it ain't going to layoff. If it's doing poorly, do we want to handcuff the company so much that we sink it? I would rather be laid off and have a chance at being recalled with a solvent company than have everyone go down with the ship, all crying "we have a no layoff clause". Naturally this begs the question about why the company signed a no layoff clause with CUPE a few weeks ago. I have no idea, my conspiratorial side says the company knew what was coming and had no intention to honour it but I have no real idea why....I suppose they wanted a common CA and gave CUPE what most other unions already had. AC management has apparently agreed to let the unions review the books. Wow, that will be revealing! (sarcasm intentional). AC is in big trouble. So what are the unions going to do with this "news"? Play hardball, cause the Feds are going to step in??? Give in????? CUPE and CAW have started off with their brave "We don't give concessions" mantra. Well, go ahead and be brave. But what are the consequences of being "brave"? Sharing a spot in EI line with xC3000 employees? Remember that EI doesn't kick in for about 4 weeks, and you top out at a whopping $1600 month for about 50 weeks (please feel free to correct these times and numbers!) For any AC unionized employee, I believe that the consequences of failing to negotiate are huge..... No salary No Benefits including health, dental, insurance No stock plan Loss of all stock already bought Loss of seniority (for all those people who have supported their union's fight in the seniority battles between CAI and AC, if your seniority is worth sooo much compared to the other guy's, then why isn't it worth fighting to keep your job? No one at Tim Horton's cares that you won the battle of seniority as you sit there every morning remeniscing about the good old days) Pension contributions will stop Tophat pension will cease immediately etc etc..... So yes we can be brave and pretend this is a management exercise to wring concessions out of the unions or you can be realistic and tell your union leadership to get their heads out of their collective a@@es. No doubt some of you and the union leadership are thinking, "the Feds would never let it happen". Right? Well let's look at the current Feds and their relationship with the aviation industry. Mr Chretien. Need I say more? Mr Collenette? I don't think I have to say anything but lets do a mini history lesson. In the spring summer of 1999 he conspired with other cabinet ministers to solve the CAI problem by suspending the competition act to allow Messrs Schwartz and Carty to take over the airline industry. Mr Schwartz being a good, honest Liberal. Mr Collenette collects about $500 million/yr in airport rents and does 0 for aviation with it. Mr Collenette allows the airport authorities to print money. The local AA charge the airlines a handling fee for every passenger that walks through the door and then charges the pax a AIF as well. Mr Collenette charges the world's biggest security tax in the world, with no appreciable change in security....The Feds underwrite financing of aircraft to our direct competitors...The fed sit back and let every US airline seat that comes into Canada be subsidized by the US taxpayer in the amount of billions of dollars after Sept 11th. The Feds give $70 million to AC. What would the Feds do if AC files CCAA?? They might be willing to back some loans but go and ask some C3 employees what the terms of those loans were? It wasn't giving up one day a month or something insignificant like that. (and of course you remember that our brothers and sisters at CUPE balked and the whole house of cards came tumbling down). No doubt minutes after AC files CCAA, Nav Canada will, then the GTAA, ADM, CAA, EAA, VAA.... No doubt that if AC goes CCAA and then liquidates, someone will come in and pick up the pieces. Who do you think will hold the big stick then? The unions (trying to claim successorship rights) or the company? So I suggest that the membership of CUPE, CAW, ACPA, CALDA, IAM and anyone else I missed, get in touch with your leadership and don't let them bluff ourselves into the EI lineup.... Some people have said that union concessions have never saved an airline, that may or may not be true. But ask yourselves this, has refusal to negotiate ever saved an airline??? (insert IAM - Eastern Airlines, CUPE-C3) And my final thought. This all supposes that nothing significant happens in the world. Just imagine a drawn out war with IRAQ, thousands of US casualties (Not I'm not ignoring Iraqi casualties, but the US ones will have a huge impact on the desire of Americans to travel). What about a significant terrorist attack in the continental US???? AC would file CCAA in days...not months.....think about it! Just my cheery thoughts for the day.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest George Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Its not just wage concessions...its also productivity... Singapore...well we live in North America...its not a relevant comparison. We have to compare ourself to people who play in the same sandbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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