CUPE 4070 President Update

Good day,

The past month has been a fairly busy one. Some notable updates.

MOA Seniority Scheduling: We have met with the Employer to continue our discussions on Seniority Scheduling as shared by Greg in his Update of February 27th, 2023. Greg shared this would be well received by the Union. Unfortunately, it was not well received and it gave rise to even greater concerns for the Union. We are currently working on our pass-back to the Company and commit to keeping our membership updated.
Executive Training and Development: This month the Executive Team met for the first time since Covid first began for an in-person Training Event in Kelowna. This is the first step of our strategic planning, which is to educate and develop your elected Executive Officers to ensure a baseline of knowledge and skill within the Local. As a young Union, the learning curve is steep, and we are committed to continuous learning seminars and courses for our group. Improving our internal processes and providing more communication with the membership are two of our objectives for this year. If you are interested in taking any Union Courses please click here.
April 25th, 2023. Day of Action- Paid for Duty. Unpaid work in our Industry is a systemic concern impacting all Flight Attendants in Canada. We will be gathering together for a day of Action - If you are passionate about being paid for the hours you are at work- please consider signing up. We will be handing out some cool swag that will reflect our commitment to our cause. More details to come. Please sign up here.
Potential Pilot Strike- We stand in solidarity with the Pilots group. We have engaged in conversations with our counterparts and they have committed to open and timely communication. Please take a moment to review the process the Pilots are currently engaged in and the next possible steps. Click here. It's important to also note, we have sections of the Collective Agreement that cover possible strike action by another group 47-3 LAYOFF. This is a very fluid situation and your Union is committed to providing updates to our group during this time.
Flight Attendant Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreement: At the Union level we have been working within our Airline Division to establish this. It's important to note however this decision to pursue this rests with each respective company. A quick update: we are disappointed to share that Air Canada has declined participation at this time. Air Transat is currently in discussions with the company, along with a few other eastern airlines, and we have requested that Porter be pursued.

Alia Hussain

CUPE 4070 President

Women's History Month

Women's History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and society.

We want to thank and recognize all Women for everything they do. Below is our three CUPE 4070 Executives. Thank you Alia, Brandy and Sherrie for all your contributions to the Local.

Workplace Harassment & Violence

Everyone deserves a work environment free of harassment and violence. As Cabin Personnel we work with hundreds of guests, ground crew, flight crew, fellow cabin personnel, hotel staff, and others that we come across. It is no doubt that we have a challenging work environment. We rely on each other and are also responsible for maintaining and promoting a harassment free, violence free, workplace. If you encounter harassment or violence in the workplace, support is available to you. Please contact your Base VP who can support and guide you through the resources and processes available to you.

CUPE 4070 Initiation Fee

CUPE 4070 requires a $5 initiation fee in order to become a Member in Good Standing.
The initiation fee is mandatory to become a Member in Good Standing as per CUPE Nationals Constitution B.4.1 (and it is required to be between $1-$10) and our Local’s Bylaws section 10 (we made ours $5). Every new Member in Good Standing application CUPE 4070 will have to pay National $1 (National Constitution 14.1(f)). As well as per every Units (WO, WR, WS) Collective Agreements 4-1.03 state that every new hire after the Collective Agreement ratification dates, the Employer will deduct the initiation fee from the paycheck. Please review all these documents.
As all 3 Units fall under the same Local, we do not require a second initiation fee when someone flows.

During an audit, I discovered that WR and WO were compliant but WS was not with CA 4-1.03 for all of 2022.
WS had mistakenly not taken off the fee for any new hires completing initial for WS in 2022.
I provided WS with a list for those who flowed and who should or should not have the deduction.

WS was going to deduct this February 28th pay period. They were to inform members prior about the deduction but did not until afterwards.
WS also did not use my list fully and deducted the initiation fee from some Members on my list to not deduct.
WS is in the process of rectifying this and will be doing refunds on the March 15 paycheck. Please contact me here if you were charged in error and have not been contacted about a refund.

Calvin Gautschi
Recording Secretary

Updates

Elections are coming in April. Dates will be announced in April’s Newsletter. Jael Gosselin has been appointed as the Electoral Officer. Thank you to our previous Electoral Officer, Tara Keeping, for your time and dedication in the role.

We encourage you to engage in the elections. Members in Good Standing can be nominated and vote in elections. For Local 4070 to operate it takes all of us to participate. If you are not currently a Member in Good Standing and wish to begin the process, please click here.

As the opening of WS YEG base is nearing, Chris Brewer our current WS YVR Base VP will add WS YEG Base VP to his portfolio. We would like to thank Chris for stepping up and taking on the opening of the YEG Base, as opening of a base is not covered under our Bylaws.

Please visit our CUPE4070 Events Page to see upcoming events. Townhalls, GMM and National Day of Action for Unpaid Work etc.

With the new process in WS YYZ, for Pilots leaving the aircraft, please ensure to submit IHRs to the Company and fill out our form for CUPE OSH. This can also be found in the forms section on our website.

As of Feb.24th there has been only 3 submissions!! We need your feedback and WS needs to hear your feedback as well.

Galley Gossip

(Visit the Galley Gossip Wall on our website to see previous submissions and answers)

Galley Gossip: Which articles is CUPE planning to improve on the next agreement, how and when will they do so?

Answer: During bargaining the entire contract is open. Surveys are sent to the members as well as data collected over the years, are used to determine what will be bargained and focused on.

Galley Gossip: With all the chaos that we have all been experiencing in December it would be very beneficial to have a tutorial to understand Rainmaker so that we can make sure that we are being paid properly.

Answer: Sharepoint has a user guides & tutorials, Q&A/FAQ and a spot to submit questions. Click here

Galley Gossip: I’ve heard from multiple people and many times over the past year that in Wings, that there is a known bug that when you select AVOID Ie one days, that it assigns you only one days. the only reason I’m asking for clarification is, every time I use AVOID all I get is ONE days.

Answer: There is no bugs with the ‘Avoid’ feature. Like all bids, it is dependent on seniority, what others are bidding and scheduling rules/global solve. If you have concerns, please reach out to your SRC (Scheduling Review Committee).

Galley Gossip: Why can’t Encore keep their seniority for monthly bidding once they flow? Why has CUPE not fought for their “Good Standing Members” to have career growth opportunities at WestJet rather than turning it into sacrifices?

Answer: Each Bargaining Unit (WO, WR, WS) has their own CA (Collective Agreement). Each CA’s direction is determined through what their specific membership desired and what was expressed via bargaining surveys sent to them. As per WS CA 15, seniority starts after successful completion of initial class.

Galley Gossip: Rumour I keep hearing is that we're going to be adding more seats to the 737s, to bring the capacity in line with the Sunwing aircraft, around 189 seats. Potentially removing premium cabin from 737s to accomplish this.

Answer: The Employer advised us “We have no known knowledge regarding cabin configurations in relation to Sunwing as this acquisition has not been approved yet”

March 2023 Newsletter