Protest staged outside Prime Minister’s constituency office
Posted Oct 17, 2011 2:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
About 50 Air Canada flight attendants and other union members staged a noisy protest outside Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s southwest constituency office at Glenmore Landing shopping centre, Monday morning.
Donned in purple and holding signs saying “12 hours work for 7 hours pay isn’t fair,” the union members are upset with Labour Minister Lisa Raitt’s decision to prevent the union from striking after members voted down two offers from the airline.
“After ten years of concessions, they have not even seen the cost of living increase in wages,” Calgary local President Ricardo Miranda tells 660News, adding the workers have every right to be upset.
“My costs have gone up every month,” adds organizer and flight attendant Kim Wentzell, who’s hoping word of the rally makes it to Harper in Ottawa. “My wages have not. The same wages since 1999? That’s ridiculous.”
It’s not just wages that the flight attendants are upset about. Miranda says other outstanding issues include how the union are paid is also an issue.
“We spend about an hour beforehand doing safety checks on flights,” he says. “Then of course the actual boarding of the flight. We can be working for 13 hours and only be paid for six and a half of those.”
Miranda noted that union leaders thought they had a good deal in place a few weeks ago, but it’s not the leaders’ decision.
“The perception here is that the leaders are the ones who make the decisions for this union,” adds Miranda. “And it’s not the case. The members always have, and always will, have the say.”
“At Air Canada, we’ve got 23,000 employees,” Wentzell says, “I think the PC’s might have lost a few votes for the next election — 23,000 votes to be exact.
