Air Canada attendants opt for hybrid pension
The union representing Air Canada’s flight attendants has withdrawn its support for a low-cost carrier at the airline, and agreed to move new hires into a hybrid pension plan in a new tentative agreement reached Tuesday that narrowly avoided a strike at the country’s largest carrier
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The union representing Air Canada’s flight attendants has withdrawn its support for a low-cost carrier at the airline, and agreed to move new hires into a hybrid pension plan in a new tentative agreement reached Tuesday that narrowly avoided a strike at the country’s largest carrier.
The Air Canada Component of CUPE, which represents 6,800 flight attendants at the airline, began its roadshow of the new deal Thursday, ahead of a ratification vote in the coming weeks.
The flight attendants have already rejected one tentative deal at the airline in August before returning to the bargaining table earlier this month.
In the new tentative agreement reached Tuesday, CUPE has removed a letter of understanding that would have seen it represent hundreds of new hires at the airline for a proposed new low-cost carrier, employees who would be brought on with lower wages and benefits.
The proposed deal also calls for all new hires after its ratification to be moved into a pension plan akin to the one agreed upon by the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents 3,800 sales and service agents at the carrier, and the airline last week.
Air Canada had been looking to move all new hires into a less-costly defined contribution plan. But the CAW and the airline agreed to put the pension issue before a final offer arbitration process, after ratifying their own labour deal. The arbitrator, Kevin Burkett, handed down his decision last week, picking the union’s final offer of a hybrid defined benefit/defined contribution plan, where part of the employees’ benefits would guaranteed upon retirement.
CUPE has agreed to adopt the same plan for its new members in its new agreement, but if there is a disagreement on its application or interpretation the issues will be referred to the arbitrator, a copy of the proposed CUPE contract obtained by the Financial Post states.
The new 4-year deal also calls for wage increases of 2% in the first three years and 3% in the final year, retroactive to when the last contract expired on March 31. The union also managed to keep a so-called “me too” clause, which would see the flight attendants granted any gains made by the other unions in their own collective agreements.
The deal also carries other work-rule benefits, such as granting two economy seats for flight attendants to rest in during flights of more than eight hours.
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