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Government Appears Poised To Prevent Air Canada Strike

Lisa Raitt

Posted: 03/ 8/2012 11:47 am

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Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said Wednesday she was taking the threat of a strike at Air Canada over the March Break period "very seriously" after the airline's largest union served notice it was prepared to walk off the job as early as Monday if a new labour agreement is not reached.

The federal government was once again being urged not to intervene in Air Canada's labour negotiations by critics who contend it does little to mend the airline's frayed relations with employees.

Read the whole story: The Ottawa Citizen

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Peacefrogg
489 Fans
02:29 PM on 03/08/2012
The strongest Unions in Canada are up in Fort McMurray, Alberta in the Oil Sands, does anyone think for one second that these conservative trollups would ever consider messing with any of them, i highly doubt it.
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Adrian31
60% of the time, it works everytime...
305 Fans
01:52 PM on 03/08/2012
First, Lisa Raitt hired a mediator that she KNEW wasn't going to be available to perform that duty for an extended period of time. How seriously did Raitt really take this?

Second, she can legislate the pilots back to work, but it's within their legal right to claim CARs regulation 602.02.

602.02 No operator of an aircraft shall require any person to act as a flight crew member and no person shall act as a flight crew member, if either the person or the operator has any reason to believe, having regard to the circumstances of the particular flight to be undertaken, that the person

(a) is suffering or is likely to suffer from fatigue; or

(b) is otherwise unfit to perform properly the person's duties as a flight crew member.

The pilots will claim to be unfit citing stress. Done. Back to work legislation becomes useless in this case.

Raitt is such a twit and the employees of AC are within their right to be ticked off at management. They gave themselves a 70+% increase in pay while telling their employees that they need to cut out benefits, pensions etc.
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digiboy
8 Fans
01:29 PM on 03/08/2012
Goodbye Air Canada. Hello reality....
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Adrian31
60% of the time, it works everytime...
305 Fans
01:53 PM on 03/08/2012
The sad thing is you don't know what the "reality" is in the airline industry. Don't comment on things you know nothing about.
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Thalin Lea
24 Fans
01:05 PM on 03/08/2012
and that NAZI-Blonde-Blue eyes girl think her party will win the next elections with this attitude ? governments goes and come, but the citizens remains and we have the last word.
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Add In Canadia
Egotism is a weakness
413 Fans
12:29 PM on 03/08/2012
Just let them strike, it'll be a death blow to the ineffective airline. WestJet has proven it's model for how to run an airline, and probably would have taken over more of Air Canada's routes if not for the stranglehold on the routes that squeezes WestJet (and other airlines) out of the picture.

A lot has to be said when a company's employees hold stock in the business they work for; the main one being that if the company does well, their paycheck goes up. No need to be negotiating for higher wages every few years, and if the company's profits shrink so do their paychecks; without a union in place fiercely defending to keep the wages high despite a failing business.
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HarleyOpenRoad
2185 Fans
12:43 PM on 03/08/2012
I'm inclined to agree, however AC is so entangled in the Canadian economy, their sudden demise would be a disaster.
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Adrian31
60% of the time, it works everytime...
305 Fans
01:55 PM on 03/08/2012
The paychecks are only shrinking for the employees along with benefits and pensions. Management at AC just gave themselves a 77% increase. Now do you understand why they're peeved?
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Add In Canadia
Egotism is a weakness
413 Fans
08:42 PM on 03/08/2012
They've been peeved for what seems like forever, and it doesn't really change the reality that it's an ineffective business. The main reason why anyone flies with Air Canada is because they don't have a choice in the matter. The business and the employees have been hostile to each other for years and that effects the overall product.

The flight routes need to be opened up so that air-travel in Canada can't be paralyzed by their incessant bickering. Granted if that happened Air Canada would probably would go under; I wouldn't be shedding any tears over that.
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therainisgone
MT
336 Fans
12:11 PM on 03/08/2012
where were you when they were closing the plant in london ------
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HarleyOpenRoad
2185 Fans
12:35 PM on 03/08/2012
govt can't save every plant
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therainisgone
MT
336 Fans
03:41 PM on 03/08/2012
at least a pretense of acting on behalf of the economy ------unless that multimillion dollar contribution to the GDP was not sufficient to be bothered over
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Adrian31
60% of the time, it works everytime...
305 Fans
01:56 PM on 03/08/2012
700 jobs vs. 7000+ jobs. That's comparing apples and oranges.
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therainisgone
MT
336 Fans
03:39 PM on 03/08/2012
thats counting ---it is the principle behind the action the adults want to know about
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