Guest M. McRae Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 If they win, what then?????? April 16, 2003 CAW will ask court to protect Air Canada's labour agreements TORONTO (CP) -- The Canadian Auto Workers is asking a court to stop Air Canada from overriding the airline's labour agreements with its four main unions as the insolvent carrier restructures under bankruptcy protection. The union, representing 9,500 workers at Air Canada and its related companies like Jazz, said Wednesday that Air Canada's temporary bankruptcy protection order April 1 allows the Montreal company to unilaterally terminate or modify longstanding agreements with its unions as it drives to lower costs and become profitable. Many analysts expect Air Canada to cut thousands of its nearly 40,000 jobs, cut wages and idle planes as it tries to become more efficient. The CAW will ask Ontario Superior Court, in a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday, to modify its April 1 bankruptcy restructuring order to ensure Air Canada respects the contracts. "The sweeping interim order means Air Canada, even though it is not in bankruptcy, can amend the pensions, lower wages, layoff without regard to seniority, in essence, anything it wants to," CAW president Buzz Hargrove said in a release. "We're challenging that," said Hargrove. "This company wants to set a precedent whereby a company, whether union or not, can strip people of their hard earned wages and pensions as a so- called way of staving off bankruptcy." Hargrove said the union recognizes that airlines are in tough financial shape, and said there has to be "a government enforced airline strategy to sustain a national flagship carrier." He said that wages and benefits are less than 30 per cent of Air Canada's total costs. Legal experts are divided as to whether a Canadian airline under bankruptcy protection has to respect its labour agreements. Air Canada's chief executive Robert Milton has blamed union intransigence for much of the financial difficulty at Canada's dominant airline (TSX:AC), which has been operating under bankruptcy protection from creditors since April 1. Milton wants the workers to accept job cuts, wage freezes and more flexible working conditions. Airlines operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States have been able to override union agreements and secure major cost cuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Airmail Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Q. If they win, what then??? A. Liquidation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Starman Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 I doubt it. I think Buzz is trying to make a point. It's funny how when management holds a union to the letter of a signed agreement, it's fair and reasonable, but when a union wishes management to honour a signed contract, it's "union intransigence". I realize that the circumstances of today require flexibility by all parties, but the CAW has a legally binding contract with Air Canada management and I think that they are trying to bring attention to the fact that it is management who is in default of that agreement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av8tr Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 I agree! We are going to have to make some painfull concessions. How painfull has not yet been made crystal clear but it will hurt. We all knew that! The contracts as well as the way the company does business will change. It's going to have to be a team effort. Accept it!! av8tr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTFA Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Actually, They are going to be part of a long line up to file their request. All the other labour groups and all the other creditors and any other party that feels they have or are being treated unfairly by the original order gets their chance to appeal to the judge to ammend the order to exclude them from the "stay". Starting April 22nd, there is going to be a lot of blood, sweat and tears spilled on the courtroom floor! Good Luck everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Airmail Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Hey, it's no prob, hold management to the "legally binding contract" -- just ask the employees of AMR what those legally binding contracts amount to? Oh right! They managed to get over the management vs. union thing and sign agreements avoiding Chapter 11/CCAA-type process! Remember what Buzz's boy Fane said in the March 23 issue of the National Post: "You'd better put it into bankruptcy protection before you ask us to give it any money." Well, "it" is in "bankruptcy protection"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 We should just put you in charge of the re-org Airmail, you make it all sound so simple.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pratt Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 My 2 cents worth in the discussion. Those of you that want to hold out, you will be the down fall of the whole operation, ..........get with the program!! We all have to make concessions to make this work, no group will be excluded, so maybe you should , try and temper your responses as to how you might help the cause, rather than help the downfall of the whole operation. The option of not giving anything up,is not/ should not even be an option, are you willing to go to liquidation?? Then we are all out of a job. Think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tri-spool Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 More likely re-regulation than liquidation! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Airmail Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Re-regulation? How does one re-regulate labour? Legislate salaries, working conditions and raises? Or do you mean re-regulate the industry? Ask WJ (the darling in YOW) what they think of that! Be careful what you wish for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Airmail Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Ah Dragon...again, be careful what you wish for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Air Canada can't afford to pay retirees 66 Air Canada staff retirements cancelled for lack of payouts CAW affidavit says airline has kept finance details from union SUSAN PIGG BUSINESS REPORTER Sixty-six Air Canada employees who took early retirement April 1 to help the struggling airline cut costs have been forced back to work because the carrier can't afford their $3.5 million buyout packages, according to a court document filed yesterday. The airline had agreed to pay the workers $54,000 each as an incentive to get them to leave before their official retirement dates, but the monitor overseeing Air Canada's complex filing under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, or CCAA, nixed the plan — forcing them back on the payroll. A 22-page document, filed with the bankruptcy court yesterday by the workers' union, the Canadian Auto Workers, alleges that Air Canada continues to withhold key financial and pension information from union officials. It also paints an interesting picture of the hours up to Air Canada's filing for protection from its creditors April 1, suggesting that it was the CAW — not Air Canada — that pressed for a last-ditch effort to bring union leaders together "with a view to determining if the CCAA filing could be avoided." CAW president Buzz Hargrove, union director of transportation Gary Fane and Local 2002 president Anne Davidson were on their way to Ottawa to meet with Transport Minister David Collenette the morning of March 31 when they got a call from a senior Air Canada executive warning that the airline intended to file for protection from its creditors the next day, the affidavit says. "This struck us as precipitous," given concessions the CAW had already agreed to in an effort to help Air Canada achieve $650 million in over-all concessions from unionized workers, it says. "We suggested that Air Canada should consider bringing all of the unions together that day if it wished to accelerate the pace of bargaining, with a view to determining if the CCAA filing could be avoided. Air Canada agreed to do this." It proved impossible for all the key union leaders to get to Montreal for face-to-face meetings, although Fane and Davidson rented a car in Ottawa and arrived at Air Canada's headquarters about midnight. They repeated to key managers, including president Robert Milton, what Hargrove had told the media hours earlier — that the CAW had agreed to $65 million in concessions requested by Air Canada. "In response to that, I was told that management's position had changed, and that it was now looking for a 22 per cent pay cut across the board, and that it wanted CAW to sign an eight-year collective agreement," said Fane in his affidavit. "I find it difficult to believe that this proposal was intended as anything other than a deliberate provocation." The CAW was so fiercely opposed to the 11th-hour changes, especially the long-term contract, that Milton "overrode the other members of management who were present," said Fane, and agreed to go back to the original proposals put to the CAW days before. By 2 a.m., Fane and Davidson left Air Canada's headquarters, convinced they had an agreement in principle on cuts. It wasn't until hours later that the CAW learned Air Canada intended to proceed with a CCAA filing. Air Canada refused to comment on the details of the affidavit yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Airmail, I am wishing for a successful resolution for as many as possible, as difficult a challenge as that seems to be. I am wishing for a triumphant return to financial health of the company I love. Kind of like you I suspect. My point was that I am easily amused by those on this forum who spout out information on CCAA like they know, the truth is that neither you, nor anyone else for that matter, knows. To suggest that the process goes from declaration to impasse to liquidation is simply incomplete, inaccurate and useless information don’t you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wilber Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 What exactly is the program? Has anyone seen one? Other than demanding large concessions from their employees I haven't. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that. Thirteen billion debt is at least as big a problem problem as wages, so what exactly is the plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakelad Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Apr17 interview with G. Fane re current AC/CAW status archived (11:10) at ROB-TV site noted below. Not the usual 'evil empire' rant. http://www.robtv.com/channels/hubs/pastprograms_highlights.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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