The past few days have been very difficult for our colleagues and friends in Halifax and Thunder Bay. Your Union is pledging its support to those members while communicating concerns and questions with the Company.
In the interest of transparency, your union believes it is necessary to make you aware of vital information which the company has not shared with you to date: Porter Airlines is treating this as a Group Termination and has filed this notice pursuant to the Canada Labour Code. The Union felt it was important to ensure members are aware and have access to the same information in a timely manner.
The Code requires that the Company provide 16 weeks notice of the change which is the May 7th date provided in the notice.
We believe this group termination notice requires an abundance of clarity that is not present in the communications sent out to our Halifax and Thunder Bay members. While options for relocation/commuting, voluntary lay-off, or early retirement have been presented, the options given (transfer, retirement, voluntary layoff) are part of their initial mitigation techniques.
The Union will be advocating for our members by participating in the Joint Committee, required under the Canada Labour Code, to ensure our members’ rights and concerns are addressed as we navigate this base closure. We are bringing forward suggestions and requests to the employer to ensure our impacted members have the best possible conditions in this very difficult situation and will work closely with the Base Vice Presidents of those two Bases, Shannon Grimard of YQT and Rebecca Mercer of YHZ.
We have received questions surrounding FOAG Section 2.3 and the policy surroundingthe 60 days notice to the FOAG Committee. We want to be clear, the FOAG Committee has been disbanded since certification of our Union. Additionally, with this filing for a group termination, the Canada Labour Code now sets out the protocol that the Company is required to follow, regardless of company policies.
We will continue to keep members informed as further details become available.
In solidarity,
The L4061 Local Executive Committee