Dec. 19 2000 - A Canada-wide vote
of around 1100 flight attendants conducted by the Canada Industrial
Relations Board resulted in a massive 70% of voters choosing the Teamsters Union over
CUPE as their combined bargaining agent.
The flight attendants are employed by regional connectors of Air Canada and
Canadian Airlines. Including AirBC, Air Ontario, Air Nova and the recently acquired
Canadian Regional Airlines these connectors will be merged into a single airline operation
to be known as Air Canada Regional.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered the vote in October because prior to
the merger flight attendants of AirBC had the Teamsters Union representing them while
their counterparts in Air Ontario, Air Nova and Canadian Regional Airlines were represented
by CUPE. A vote was necessary to determine which of the two unions would represent flight
attendants in the merged airline.
The Teamsters campaign was led by Garnet Zimmerman who said that the result was a major
development for both the flight attendants and the Teamsters Union in Canada:
"We very much look forward to working with all regional flight attendants
to create a strong Canadian Teamsters Airline Division to ensure that they
have the best pay, working conditions and representation in the industry."
He added:
"This was a very emotional campaign, and a lot of flight attendants
worked very hard on both sides. We want to send a message to all flight
attendants that we will work hard to unite all flight attendants and build a
strong bargaining unit. I would also like to express our congratulations to
CUPE for their commitment to respect the democratic wishes of the flight
attendants."
Canadian Human Resources
