Dear Members,

We are writing to you today to provide an update on Extensive Duty Days and the grievances we filed to address the violations that occurred in 2022 to date. 

For context, in 2022 a violation of 34-11.01 occurred when duty days exceeded 17 hours day of due to various situations including adverse weather conditions. The Collective Agreement 34-11.01 states that under no circumstances shall duty periods exceed the limits set out in the article.  

Grievances were filed against these violations and when there was no resolve at Step I or II of the grievance process, they were advanced to arbitration. While these entered the queue for arbitration, we persisted with conversations with the employer on the severity of these violations and impact on our membership.  

It is no secret that in the airline industry diversions, weather impacting delays, airport operations, etc. can result in events like this of excessive duty days and are outside of the company's control or ability, as we saw with duty periods exceeding the maximum duty day limits outlined in article 34-11.01. One example would be cabin crew members agreeing to an extension between 16 to 17 hours on a narrow body aircraft which is in alignment with the collective agreement, only to then get stuck on a tarmac or at a gate or having to divert due to weather and eventually exceeding the limits of article 34-11.01.  

Through our negotiations, we have reached a settlement with the company on the grievances and secured additional language in our collective agreement to hold the employer accountable and improve their operational control. 

We now have new language in our collective agreement stating that any extensions beyond the limits of 34-11.01 will be a penalty payment of $1600 to the member. 

Additionally, we have added a requirement that anytime a crew member experiences a day exceeding the limits of 34-11.01, the company must review the situation and provide an explanation to the union. This explanation must include the corrective actions taken to ensure it does not happen again in the future. 

We still retain the language that under no circumstances shall duty periods exceed 34-11.01, however, as per the above example, we do know that there are situations that are beyond the company’s control. We would like to remind cabin crew members that any voluntary duty day extensions beyond the maximum listed in 34-11.02 and 34-11.03 above requires the consent of the Cabin Personnel. 

With the settlement of the grievances, we have filed, and the language mentioned above, it will be outlined in the MOA that can be found below.

Interim Local 4070 Vice President Bryan Hansraj sat down and filmed an information session to discuss these grievances and the MOA with Local 4070 President Alia Hussain and WestJet YVR/YEG Base Vice President Chris Brewer. To view the information session please find the button below

Q&A for the Extended Duty Day Memorandum of Agreement: 

Q: What is the purpose of this memorandum of agreement? 

A: The purpose of this memorandum is to add new language to the Collective Agreement regarding compensation for cabin personnel when duty periods exceed the established limits, without changing the existing language in Article 34-11.01 that sets those duty period limits. 

Q: What are the key terms of this memorandum? 

A: The key terms are: 

1. A new provision is being added to the Collective Agreement, which will require the Company to pay a "duty period penalty" of $1,600 when a duty period exceeds the applicable limit set out in Article 34-11.01. 

2. This new penalty payment is in addition to the existing extended duty period premiums outlined in Article 34-11.06. 

3. The language in Article 34-11.01 that establishes the maximum duty period limits of 17 hours for narrow-body aircraft and 17/20.5 hours for wide-body aircraft remains unchanged. 

Q: Does this memorandum change the duty period limits in any way? 

A: No, the memorandum explicitly states that it does not change the language in Article 34-11.01 that sets the maximum duty period limits. Those limits remain intact. 

Q: What is the significance of maintaining the existing Article 34-11.01 language? 

A: By keeping the existing duty period limit language unchanged, the parties have preserved the core provisions that establish the operational parameters for cabin personnel work hours. The new memorandum simply adds an additional financial consequence for exceeding those established limits. 

Q: Why is the requirement for the Company to provide a written explanation and corrective action plan significant? 

A: The new Article 34-11.07 requires the Company to review any duty period extensions that exceed the applicable limits and provide the Union with a written explanation of the circumstances that necessitated the extension, as well as any corrective action the Company plans to take to prevent similar occurrences in the future. 
 

  This provision is significant because it creates accountability and transparency around the Company's duty period extension practices. By requiring the Company to document and share its analysis of the issues that led to the extended duty periods, as well as its plans to address those problems, the Union and cabin personnel will have better visibility into the root causes and the Company's efforts to improve compliance with the duty period limits going forward. This should help foster better labor-management relations and potentially reduce the need for future grievances on this issue. 

In solidarity,

Your CUPE 4070 Executive Team
CUPE 4070 President - Alia Hussain
CUPE 4070 Vice-President - Bryan Hansraj - Interim
CUPE 4070 Secretary-Treasurer - Alex Grigoriev
CUPE 4070 Recording Secretary - Calvin Gautschi

WestJet YVR/ YEG Base VP - Chris Brewer
WestJet YYC Base VP - Lisa Blayney - Interim
WestJet YWG Base VP - Bryan Hansraj - Interim
WestJet YYZ Base VP - Chris Amaddeo - Interim

WestJet Encore YYC Base VP - Heather Crippen
WestJet Encore YYZ Base VP - Marcus Johnston-McKinney