Dear Members,

For those of you who are active and still receiving Corporate e-mails, you have likely now seen the communication from Ed, as well as the Inflight specific communication from your business units’ senior leadership. For those of our Members who are inactive, we will summarize the implications of today’s news, as you likely will not receive it directly from the Employer, and we do not want you hearing this in the media as your first source.

The Company communicated this morning with all workgroups across the organization as to the reality that beginning February 1, 2021, there remains no choice but to implement significant network reductions across the WestJet and Swoop networks. These network reductions will primarily be focused on international destinations (including the United States), as a result of the massive demand crash across almost all routes outside of Canada.

International bookings have declined in excess of 90% as a result of federal regulations that went into effect yesterday by Transport Canada. These new rules require guests to have a negative COVID-19 test result in order to board their flight to Canada. The test must be performed using a COVID-19 molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and must be taken within 72 hours prior to the guests’ scheduled departure to Canada. It is up to the guest(s) to source, pay for, and provide documentation of a negative PCR test to the airline prior to boarding.

To be absolutely clear, CUPE 4070 makes no secret of the fact that we believe the Trudeau Government has, and continues to abandon and neglect our industry. While these COVID-19 testing rules may have some impact on cases of the virus arriving in Canada, your Union believes that enacting such regulations for international travel, which discourages travel almost completely, must also be accompanied by a long overdue Aviation Sector financial support package. This Government has yet to provide any funding to support our industry, inclusive of all carriers in Canada.

Your Union commits that in conjunction with CUPE National, the CUPE Airline Division, and even in consultation with our Employer, we will be applying further pressure on the Trudeau Government to own their complete abandonment of our sector. In representing our over 4,100 Members, it is critical that your Union continues to increase public knowledge and pressure on the Prime Minister and his Government. The fact is that our Employer, and every other Airline in Canada, has been abandoned and treated as a nuisance to Mr. Trudeau and his Ministers. Zero appreciation for the $32 billion in annual GDP that Airlines create in our Country has been demonstrated. We will make them hear OUR peril, and that of our Employer.

Details of the exact number of layoffs which will begin February 1, 2021 have been shared by leadership with each workgroup. Following numerous meetings with the Employer on Thursday, we remain optimistic that this will be the final step that we must endure. We anticipate the real recovery begins in three to four months when the vaccine becomes widely available, and the virus begins to retreat.

Your elected Union representatives remain here to support you. While we do not have exact numbers of the furlough cutoff on Department Service Lists, we have been informed that these will be finalized by mid-next week, and layoff notices provided by end of week.

This pandemic remains an extremely upsetting time for us all. Should you require support following today’s news, please use the resources that may be available to you through your Employer Benefits program, as well as the Union Crisis Hotline List offering support in every city that we serve.

As always, please reach out to us anytime: http://www.cupe4070.ca/contact.


In Solidarity,
Your CUPE 4070 Executive Team