FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Advisory
OTTAWA – Dave Ritchie, Canadian Vice President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), will hold a news conference, Tuesday, December 7 at 1:45 P.M. in 130S Centre Block, following a meeting with Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw to discuss the economic security of air transport employees affected by air transport restructuring.
The IAM is Canada’s largest air transport union representing more than 18,500 workers at Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and a number of companies which service Canada’s airlines.
The IAM already has negotiated an agreement with Air Canada which provides protection and wage enhancement for Canadian Airlines employees in the event that Air Canada is successful in its bid to take over Canadian.
The union is asking that the protections they have negotiated, including the key elements that there be no involuntary layoffs or transfers across the sector, be extended to airline service providers and other carriers, and that these basic elements become an enforceable element of restructuring policy.
The union will also provide the Minister with a set of proposals for the government to put in place a program of support for workers in the air transport industry, with substantial public funding, jointly run by labour and management, to provide: income support; training assistance; job search and relocation assistance and priority access to job openings in the sector.
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SOURCE: Neville Hamilton (613) 731-6316 (Office)
(613) 720-4493 (Cell)
