Dear Members, 

We are writing to update you regarding the Employer's known non-compliance with the amendments to the Canada Labour Code pertaining to Medical Leave with Pay and Personal Leave.

In December 2022, the Canada Labour Code was amended to include ten days of Medical Leave with Pay for all federally regulated employees, regardless of status (full-time, part-time, casual, etc.). With the implementation of Medical Leave with Pay came the qualifications amendment to Personal Leave, that Personal Leave cannot be taken for personal illness or injury.  This means that Personal Days (Personal Leave) cannot bededucted from your federally regulated sick bank (days of Medical Leave with Pay). 

For the last six months, the Employer has not been complying with the Code amendments and has been deducting personal leave from sick leave banks. This resulted in the Union filing Individual Grievances for the affected Members who have brought their issues forward to the Union. The Employer has denied those grievances. 

In response to this, your Union filed Policy Grievance WS-POL-2023-003 - Failure to Implement Sick Leave Provisions of the Canada Labour Code on June 22, 2023, at Step II of the Grievance Procedure. The Union and Employer agreed to waive the Step II Hearing and proceed to mediation, as the violations were established and clear. 

Additionally, the Union was made aware that Rainmaker is capping all Cabin Personnel's sick banks at the part-time maximum of 15 days.  This issue was escalated by the Union. The Employer indicated they are aware of the cap, that Crew Pay is tracking Cabin Personnel's accruals, and that the software update to address this cap was being held off until after mediation.

On July 5, 2023, your Union met with the Employer and Arbitrator William Kaplan to mediate the policy grievance filed in June. Led by YYC Base Vice-President Brandy Whitby along with Vice President Tyson Conrod, CUPE National Representatives, and CUPE National Legal Counsel, we weresuccessful in obtaining a favourable Memorandum of Settlement for Policy Grievance WS-POL-2023-003. 

Upon entering mediation, our position was clear – we were unwilling to agree to any concessionary proposals for compliance with the Code regarding changes to the maximumaccruals for sick time and sick bank maximum allotments. 

We are pleased to report that we were successful in attaining our original grievance asks and in attaining proposed language amendments that are significantly beneficial for Members. 

Of significance:

• On August 1, 2023, Cabin Personnel will be provided a new annual allotment of three paid Personal Leave days for their use in the 2023 calendar year, and all remaining sick day accruals for the 2023 calendar year will be placed into the active Cabin Personnel’s sick bank as an allotment (to a maximum of 22 days)
• Sick days will be front loaded at the beginning of the calendar year and no longer accrued (12 for active Full-Time Members and 10 for active Part-Time Members)
• The Sick Bank maximums remain the same (22 days for Full-Time Members and 15 days for Part-Time Members)
• Active Cabin Personnel will be entitled to three paid Personal Leave days reconciled outside of the sick bank
• Returning to duty from Personal Leave prior to the Release Time of an original pairing is protected within CA 34-23 - Return to Duty with Schedule Assigned (Not Including Sick Leave)
• All language pertaining to a “doctor’s certificate” has beenamended to a “health care practitioner’s certificate” - this provides greater scope of treatment providers that are nowable to provide a sick note/certificate, if required

The new language comes into effect on August 1, 2023, and the Company has advised the Union that a communication and referenceable material will be released in the coming weeks.

Your Union is committed to actively and fiercely fighting for your rights not only as bargained in the Collective Agreement, but as legislated in the Canada Labour Code by the Government of Canada. Our position remains the same - compliance with the Canada Labour Code is not optional, it is the law.

President, Alia Hussain
Vice President, Tyson Conrod
Recording Secretary, Calvin Gautschi
Secretary-Treasurer, Alex Grigoriev

Swoop Base VP, Sherrie Moore
WestJet Encore YYC/YYZ Base VP, Adrian Dayrit
WestJet YEG/YVR Base VP, Chris Brewer
WestJet YYC Base VP, Brandy Whitby
WestJet YYZ Base VP, Bryan Hansraj