The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.46           December 23, 1996 
 
 
Canadian Gov't Attacks Airline Workers  

BY NED DMYTRYSHYN AND MONICA JONES

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In an unprecedented attack on union rights, the Canadian government announced on December 4 that it would force 3,900 ticket and reservation agents represented by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) at Canadian Airlines International (CAI) to vote on a company wage cut ultimatum. Canadian Airlines, with 16,400 workers, is the second largest carrier in Canada.

The government proposal steps over the heads of elected union representatives and imposes a vote on wage rollbacks in the name of the "democratic right" of members to "save their jobs." Officials of the other five unions at the airline had already tentatively agreed to proposals that include wage cuts.

British Columbia Federation of Labor secretary- treasurer Angela Schira said the government move "is really the introduction of the War Measures Act of labor relations.... It opens the door for more abuse in the future."

"The government has jumped completely in bed with the company and ordered the workers, with a shotgun at their head, to take a wage cut or lose their job," declared Basil Hargrove, president of the CAW, following the announcement. The CAW decided not to challenge the order in court, however, and indicated there will be a vote on a wage cut.

A discussion is unfolding among airline workers on the issues posed with the company ultimatum and the government- imposed vote.

IAM member Neil Koleszar, a cleaner for seven years at CAI, told the Militant, "It seems the extent of the government's participation was to support the company, but they should let unions go with their own process. This is a situation where government is stepping in where it shouldn't."

IAM member Chris Bertrand, a ramp worker with Canadian for three years, said he thought "the government was right in doing what it did and that its time to save the airline," but "this is a band-aid solution."

The vote ordered by federal Labor Minister Alfonso Gagliano is the latest turn in a confrontation between the airline and many of its 16,400 employees that opened on November 11, when company president Kevin Benson unveiled a "restructuring" plan for the company that included a demand that the unions reopen their contracts and accept a 10 percent pay cut. "If we don't get the support of our employees," he said, "then we must plan a shutdown of the airline." He gave a deadline of November 27.

Many CAI workers are opposed to the cuts, and there have been some protests, including a picket of 75 unionists here November 17.

"Canadian Airlines wants another 10 percent wage cut," CAW member Billie Mortimer told the Vancouver Sun. "But we've already given. For what? So they could put more empty seats in the air in hopes of driving Air Canada [CAI's main competitor] out of business?"

Mortimer was referring to the fact that workers at Canadian have given three rounds of wage cuts and work rule changes since 1992, totaling more than $300 million, in the name of staving off bankruptcy. The latest threat followed an agreement negotiated in the past few months with the five unions at CAI involving concessions on work rules, benefits, and a wage freeze that add up to a 17 percent productivity increase.

The company says it has lost $1.4 billion dollars since 1992. Airline industry analyst David Gersovitz commented that a "radical downsizing," including cutting 4,000 jobs, is needed to compete with Air Canada.

The Canadian government stepped into the fray on the side of the company. "The president of the company has put forward a thorough plan," said Transport Minister David Anderson on November 15. "There really are no alternatives."

Anderson spent the next two weeks pressuring workers and union officials to give in. The federal government refused union calls for financial aid to the company until the unions accepted the cuts. "We won't solve anything by loaning money to the company," Prime Minister Jean Chretien told a Vancouver audience on November 20. "What the company needs is to carry through its restructuring plan."

The International Association of Machinists (IAM), which represents 5,300 maintenance and service workers, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) , representing 2,600 flight attendants, joined in November 26 negotiations with Canadian Airlines to discuss the company restructuring plan to accept wage cuts. Earlier both the CUPE and the CAW had said they would oppose the 10 percent cut.

The IAM and CUPE announced a four-year deal with Canadian Airlines the following day that would meet about half the company's wage cut goal of $70 million per year. Wages would be cut along a sliding scale, beginning at 1 percent for salaries above $25,000 and reaching about 8 percent for pilots.

The airline will receive some $36 million per year in tax breaks from the Canadian, Alberta, and British Columbia governments. The provincial government here will also give $12 million in tax breaks to workers whose wages will be cut.

Following the agreement with CUPE and the IAM, the company and government turned their fire on the CAW, saying that its intransigence threatened the future of the airline.

CAW officials say they want the federal government to give $400 million in grants and tax breaks to the airline over the next four years, and Hargrove called for regulation of prices and competition of domestic flights. Many regulations governing domestic competition were phased out in 1988.

Hargrove has also echoed the chauvinist, anti- Quebecois arguments of some newspaper editorialists in western Canada. "We're trying to get . . . a recognition by this [federal] government," he said on November 30, "that Western Canadians, when they are in crisis, are entitled to the same amount of support as Eastern Canadians.

"It just infuriates me that General Motors... in Quebec gets $200 million from this government to support 3,000 jobs, and we're offered a lousy $20 million to support 16,000 workers." GM received an interest-free loan from the Canadian government in 1987 to upgrade its assembly factory in Quebec.

Brian de Ridder, IAM member and a ramp worker at Canadian Airlines for eight years, explained "The CAW was right in opposing wage cuts. Someone has to stand up for workers. Society is being run by the corporate elite. To say that a few million dollars from the CAW in wages would make or break the company is ridiculous. Forcing a vote shows that the government is on the side of the corporations."

IAM member Neil Kolesar said, "The last raise that I've had was in March of 1992. Now I will lose up to 2.5 percent of my wage if the proposal goes through."

Ned Dmytryshyn and Monica Jones are members of IAM Lodge 764 in Vancouver. Monica Jones works at Canadian Airlines.  
 
 
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