FOR THE FUTURE OF THIS PROFESSION

[proper]

TO those of you who want to maintain and improve the standards of this profession please write in to LISA RAITT our lovely minister. She wants to pass legislation that would force Jazz pilots back in the air in the event of a strike. What's the point of creating a unified labour group in this country? US Bank presidents, Airline execs and now our lovely MP's. What when ACPA negotiates?

Ottawa
307 Confederation Building
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Tel: (613) 996-7046
Fax: (613) 992-0851
RaittL@parl.gc.ca

[Samson]

What's the point of creating a unified labour group in this country?

Amen.

[WetJet]

Thanks for the heads up. I emailed her and CCed my local MP. Hope it rattles his cage a bit, there are thousands of pilots and FAs here in Barrie...

[Howitzer]

Done!

[Ifly]

Sent to my MP with a CC to the "honorable" minister...


Mr Kenney:

I am a Jazz Air Pilot and one of your constituents. I am writing you today to express my outrage and complete shock at the actions of one of your co-workers, the Minister of Labour, Ms. Lisa Raitt.

As you may or may not know, the pilots of Air Canada Jazz have been flying the past year without a contract. For the four years previous to that, the pilots were under a contract imposed on them during the CCAA filing of our parent corporation, Air Canada. Finally, after five years of watching Jazz give shareholders nearly 75 cents out of every dollar earned, we are in a position to negotiate a fair and equitable contract.

Are you aware of what the starting wage for a pilot at Jazz currently is? $37000 City bus drivers make more. Jazz has five bases; Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, at least four of which are the most expensive cities in the country in which to live. Many pilots are forced to commute from other, cheaper cities, simply for the opportunity to advance and have a decent career.

So finally, when our chance comes along to negotiate a fair and equitable contract, the Minister of Labour steps forward and slashes our ability to negotiate out from under us. She has severely harmed our ability to negotiate a contract by giving Jazz the assurance they need, that should we go on strike the government will be there to protect them with back to work legislation. This goes against all the principles the labour laws of this country are supposed to protect. I would like to know if what she has done is even legal, at the very least, it is highly unethical.

I am calling on you, my duly elected representative to represent my interests in this matter. I would ask that given the circumstance, the Minister needs to issue a press release stating that there will be no further interference by her or anyone else in the current government in the legal rights of the Jazz pilots to negotiate a fair and equitable contract.

[mbav8r]

Done

[CanadianEh]

Done as well. Good luck.

[V1 Rotate]

These letters you are sending are some of the most encouraging things I've ever seen in this industry. We need more people to speak up and be heard!

Awesome.

[The Vault]

Ifly, I was really impressed with your letter and have used it as a template for my own. I was tempted to just send yours with my name on it, but I figure it will be more effective if we all send something different. I'm posting it here for others in the hope that those of you that have not sent anything might be able to get something out of it. Please feel free to use it.

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX,

I am a one of your constituents and a pilot with Jazz Air. I am writing to you to express my concern over comments that were made in Parliament on June 17th, 2010 regarding the contract negotiations between Jazz Air and its Pilots.

As you may now be aware, the pilots of Jazz Air have been without a contract for the past year. In the years prior to that we were operating on a conciliatory contract that was negotiated during the last CCAA filing of Air Canada. As such, we took significant wage cuts in order to ensure that Jazz Air would continue to be successful. In the years that followed, we have been very successful. Jazz Air has consistently made a significant profit which has been all but distributed to the shareholders of the Jazz Income Trust as well as the management. We have also had the best on time performance of any airline in Canada.

What you may not be aware of is the fact that the starting salary for a pilot at Jazz is $37,000 a year. This is after an average to 5 to 8 years in the industry reaching the qualifications that Jazz requires of its pilots, and spending an average of $50,000 dollars in training. TTC ticket agents make more than this!

Jazz has five bases from which we operate out of; Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. It is near impossible to live in any of these cities and to raise a family on the salary that I have mentioned above. The starting price for a house in Toronto is around $500,000. As such, most of our pilots commute long distances in order to work. As you may recall, a similar situation exists in the United States which was highlighted by the Colgan Air accident in Buffalo New York. Shouldn’t we learn from the mistakes of others?

The pilots of Jazz Air are keenly aware that no one will benefit if we become unprofitable. We are not asking for much. In fact less than we have already given up. However, we do ask for the opportunity to fairly negotiate with our company without outside interference.

Much has been made of the belief that Jazz Air operates an essential service. There is not a single destination that we serve where there are not other air carriers, rail service, or bus service. Jazz Air itself agrees with this fact.

One of your conservative colleagues, Mr. Ron Cannan (Kelowna) made a comment that his constituents “are very concerned that they will not be able to fly to their holiday destinations because of a potential work stoppage by Jazz Air”. The idea that we should be legislated back to work so that the vacation plans of others will not be affected is one of the most insulting and selfish comments that I have ever heard.

I hope that in the event of a LEGAL work stoppage at Jazz Air by its pilots that we will be allowed the opportunity to negotiate without interference. Keep in mind that someone raising a family on a salary as small as ours would be suffering far more than someone missing their vacation.

Yours Sincerely,

[proper]

UNITE THE PILOTS!
Hello industry colleagues, please write your local MP to counter this horrible aggression on our profession. Let's not just rattle LISA's cage... let's get our friends involved to make sure this never happens again.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.asp?Language=E

write your MP... took me 5 minutes.
thank you all

[mbav8r]

ifly, I also used yours as a template but made some changes, it's for a greater good so hope you don't mind.

Mr. James Bezan,

I am a Jazz Air Pilot and one of your constituents. I am writing you today to express my outrage and complete shock at the actions of a colleague of yours, the Minister of Labour, Ms. Lisa Raitt. Further compounding the shock is the fact at the outset of bargaining, we were deemed non-essential services.

You probably not aware of the fact, the pilots of Air Canada Jazz have been flying the past year without a contract. For the four years previous to that, the pilots were under a contract imposed on them during the CCAA filing of our then, parent corporation, Air Canada. Finally, after 3 years of watching Jazz give shareholders nearly 75 cents out of every dollar earned, we are in a position to negotiate a fair and equitable contract. Yet, until we voted, 99% to give our union the power to strike if necessary, Jazz management were trying to get what amounted to a concessionary contract. While in negotiations, we were close to a tentative agreement, the word came out that it was likely we would be legislated back to work, Jazz management came back into the room and removed millions from the table that were previously offered.

I'm sure you are not aware of this either, the starting wage for a Jazz Pilot is, 36,360.00 gross. A full time Calgary city bus driver would make 41,847.00 in their 1st year. Did you also know the low income cut off (poverty level) for a family of 4, in a city of 500,000 or more is 34,738.00 after tax. Jazz bases are all but one, considered to be the some of the most expensive cities in Canada. Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

I implore you as my elected representative, to call on Ms. Raitt to rescind her statements and let the bargaining continue on a more level playing field. I sure don’t want to think, I would have been better off voting for a more labour friendly party like NDP. I will, of course reconsider my stand, should Ms. Raitt continue this interference with our right to negotiate a fair contract.

Thank you for your attention to this matter of great importance,

Sincerely,

[Clint23]

Not a Jazz guy, but agree 100% Done! Good luck to all.

[tbaylx]

Not a Jazz guy either, but also wrote my MP with a similar letter. Would be really nice to have a regional carrier that a higher time pilot could consider as a career job without having to go on food stamps to feed his family. Best of luck to you guys at Jazz, lots of us are behind you if if we don't work at the same company.

[florch]

Just got this letter back from Ms. Raitt:

Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:



Thank you for your correspondence, which was addressed to your Member of Parliament, Mr. David Sweet, with regard to the Jazz Air Limited Partnership collective bargaining dispute. In your correspondence, you express concern about the Government’s actions during the negotiations between Jazz Air Limited Partnership, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the Canadian Flight Attendants Union (CFAU).



The Government strongly believes that free collective bargaining is the best method for arriving at terms and conditions of employment in unionized workplaces. Our preference is always to have the two sides reach a negotiated agreement.



However, when a strike or lockout occurs as a result of bargaining difficulties and has a significant negative impact on the public interest, the right of employers and unions to sort out their differences through work stoppages must be balanced against broader concerns.



In the case of Jazz and ALPA’s bargaining, the Government did not seek to pre-empt the right to strike or lock out, but it did signal its intention to table back to work legislation if an eventual work stoppage were to have serious adverse consequences for the national economy.



I am pleased that with the assistance of federal mediators, the parties were able to reach settlements without any work stoppage.



I trust that the above information is helpful and I thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention.



Yours sincerely,











The Honourable Lisa Raitt, P.C. M.P.

Minister of Labour





c.c. (My local), M.P.

[Flying Low]

Got the same reply myself.

In the case of Jazz and ALPA’s bargaining, the Government did not seek to pre-empt the right to strike or lock out, but it did signal its intention to table back to work legislation if an eventual work stoppage were to have serious adverse consequences for the national economy.

If the Labour Minister can't see the contradiction in this sentence then she is incompetent or complicit. Neither is acceptable. Congrats to the Conservatives. You have lost a life long Conservative voter. Not sure who I vote for now...