Air Canada attendants fight for jobs

29 JUL 2008: Air Canada flight attendants took to the streets in several cities Monday to protest job cuts and warn of delays in the skies.  More than 300 flight attendants and supporters in downtown Winnipeg cheered CUPE president Paul Moist for berating the “arrogance of Air Canada management.''

Similar scenes in other cities

About 100 flight attendants and supporters marched at the Calgary International Airport, while 150 people rallied in front of city hall in Halifax.

In Montreal, some 100 flight attendants demonstrated outside the departure lounge of Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport.

The demonstrations are unlikely to change minds at Air Canada. Faced with rising fuel prices, the carrier announced plans in June to cut 7% of its capacity and lay off up to 2,000 of its 28,000 workers including 632 of the airline's 7,000 flight attendants.

“Given the pressures we're under from fuel and the economy, it was just a decision that was forced upon us,'' Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said from Toronto.

``We can understand that it's disappointing and upsetting for our employees. That's why we're keen to sit down with them and look at ways to mitigate this and see what options there are for people.''

Both sides to meet

The two sides were to meet Thursday to look for ways to make the job cuts as painless as possible - measures which could include early retirement incentives. Last week, federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn rejected Air Canada's request for a waiver from a requirement to set up a joint union-company committee to examine ways to ease the impact.

The job cuts will hit hardest in Winnipeg and Halifax, where flight attendant bases will be closed. The bases are not physical buildings, but simply the designated starting point for an
employee's work day.

The closures mean attendants in Winnipeg and Halifax will have to move to one of the remaining base cities - Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary - or try to commute to their jobs via free standby flights. Flying standby, they run the risk of not being able to get to work on time if flights are full.

Attendants also warned the base closures will result in fewer workers on hand to help out with rescheduled flights or staff shortages.

“Any time there's a cancellation - for whatever reason, weather or anything - there won't be anyone here to cover that. It'll just be cancelled, so good luck getting to Toronto; good luck getting to Vancouver.''  Said flight attendant Sandy Menjivar at the Winnipeg protest.

But Fitzpatrick noted that Air Canada flies to dozen of airports now with only six bases.