Mitch Cronin Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Mr. Reid, Ok, I've simmered down some. I read your message when I came home from a party last night and my blood boiled, so I reacted a bit. I apologize if my "dogs" remark offended. As I said though, I truly haven't threatened anything. You may want to have a second look at my original message to Mr. Milton. I resent being accused of "threatening the company". My message was borne out of concern for the company as well as for my colleagues and myself. I hoped he'd share that concern. I am not your enemy, I'm one of your assets. All I was saying, and all I am saying, is that I know how angry people are about this business of scheduled mandatory overtime, and I know how they'll react, in part because I've already seen it. And I know that Air Canada will not benefit by this plan. Partly because of the methods I believe people will employ to show their displeasure, and in no small part because, as I already know and would have hoped you'd know also, an unhappy employee is not a very productive employee. So imagine the production from a downright angry employee. Straight talk... No bull.... This contract has hosed us badly, and it's no secret to us why that is. The Station Attendant group hasn't been nearly as hard hit as we were, we're already angry about that... Now, we learn, after we vote, that we've "accepted" a deal that will enable management to have total control over our time away from work! I'm telling you we're livid about that! It's an absolute abomination and we feel we cannot just lay down and get run over like that. So, each of us will do what we feel we can to try to change it. And that, sir, is why I wrote to Mr. Milton, copied my letter to two web sites that I know are being watched by management, and why I am writing to you. "Flexing their muscles" was a term I used to describe what I believe will happen as people consider what means they have at their disposal to make their position known. No secrets there, and it's certainly nothing you hadn't heard of before. And nothing unprofessional about it either. Many professionals have been known, on occasion, to flex their muscles in an attempt to improve their bargaining position. You said: "Scheduled mandatory overtime allows Air Canada to work more efficiently by ensuring adequate staffing in line with the volume of work to be performed." This is a line of thought that completely ignores the effects on employees of such a ridiculous scheme and at once destroys any possibility of hearing any truth in your next statement: "scheduled mandatory overtime will, in fact, allow us to provide greater predictability of overtime for our employees and thereby hopefully contribute to their ability to coordinate their own personal lives." Good grief man, give it some thought!? What is "overtime"? It's working beyond your scheduled hours. Or it's working on days that you would have had to take your son fishing, or whatever... It certainly has nothing to do with coordinating your own personal life! "Ensuring adequate staffing in line with the volume of work to be performed" is something management is supposed to do on a regular basis for goodness sakes. If they suddenly need to "schedule" overtime to do so, then they've failed in that most basic of managerial tasks! As for the safety issue, I ask you to consider the effect of such complete and utter distraction. We are not ditch diggers. We are professionals who care deeply about the safety of our work and we would certainly never intentionally compromise safety to make our points or further our own goals. So please don't go getting any wrong messages there. This plan stinks and it should be stopped dead before it starts! Read the web sites, or talk to your employees, I'm not the only one who'll tell you this. It's a bad decision! Again I implore you... Please correct it, before our company suffers as a result. Sincerely, Mitch Cronin PS. I had a message from Air Canada's Chief Safety Officer when I got home this evening... I did return his call, but of course it was too late... I told him I'll be at home tomorrow and I'll try to get a hold of him, if he hasn't got me first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gadgeteer Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Way to go Mitch and keep us posted. I agree and support your endeavour to make Air Canada the best airline an employee could work for. Mr Reid there is many ways in which Air Canada can reduce costs. However, miss treating select groups of employees is not a wise move. IMHO, we should revisit the changes to our collective agreement. The increase costs of labour unrest will probably far out weight the savings of the scheduled overtime program. Regards, Larry Zadel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PilotsWife Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Maybe the Safety guy should be working mandatory overtime! JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gasper Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 Would you mind moving this rhetoric to another forum. I'm sure most people here would appreciate it my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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