“Porter’s philosophy is not to be the highest paying flight attendant airline in Canada.”
Those were the words from Porter’s head of People and Culture yesterday during a call with cabin crew about benchmarking – words which your director also happens to agree with.
In fact, this benchmark even exceeded her expectations. But did it exceed yours?
It’s the same sentiment expressed by Kevin Jackson in an email to cabin crew on June 5, when he said Air Canada will always play catchup to Porter, whether it’s the quality-of-service Porter cabin crew provide or the in-flight snacks and beverage service our airline offers to passengers.
But when it comes to our airline valuing and paying its employees, the company’s attitude and approach are clear: they will never even try to catch up to other airlines. In fact, on yesterday’s call, when asked why Porter won’t offer higher wages for Porter cabin crew, in line with what flight attendants earn at Air Canada, the head of People and Culture said that Air Canada flight attendants do more than us.
In the middle of this cost-of-living crisis, when the cost of everything seems to be going up, how do you feel about being valued at 50% when your service expectations are 110%?
How do you feel being told that your service is above and beyond your competitors, but you will never get paid more – or even the same – as them?
How do you feel knowing pilots at Porter are benchmarked at 65%, when we as cabin crew are only benchmarked at 50%?
We think we’re worth more, and we think we deserve better. Together, we can and we will do better.
With a union, we’ll have a real contract that we negotiate with the company, instead of the company picking and choosing elements from other airlines to benchmark when it suits them.
We’re almost there. Signing your union card today will help take us one step closer.
Once enough of us have signed our union cards, the federal labour board will freeze our working conditions until we negotiate our first contract, so the company can’t penalize us for unionizing by taking away our wages and working conditions. Once we have a union, what we have now will be our floor, not a ceiling, and together we can set our sights high to make our jobs even better.
Things can – and should – be a lot better at our jobs. Sign your union card today to help get us there!