By now, many of you have noticed a big change in your pairings – cabin crew and pilots are no longer working the same pairings from start to finish.
For many of us, this could mean longer duty days, more legs flown in a day, and shorter rest on layovers and at home. And it might only get tougher as the company continues rolling out these changes into May.
While pilots are getting pairings that allow them to commute from non-base cities, cabin crew do not have the same options. Pilots have much stronger protection under Transport Canada’s aviation regulations than cabin crew. And let’s remember, even with better pairings and transport, the pilots are also in the process of unionizing.
This is just one more reason why Porter cabin crew need to form a union of our own, with the protection of a collective agreement. We need a union, and a real contract that goes above and beyond the bare minimum under the law.
With a union and a real contract, Porter cabin crew will have strong language protecting the length of our duty days, the number of legs flown in a day, and the length of rest while we’re on layover and at home. This protects health and safety for the crew and passengers alike.
Why is Porter doing this? It probably makes business sense for them. But it shouldn’t be done at the expense of our health and safety.
As cabin crew, we know that we deserve safe and healthy scheduling – and with a union and a real contract, we can work to protect it while helping our company succeed.
If you haven’t already, sign your union card today to get the strong union protection we deserve.