Global TV Montreal To Air Age 60 Story Oct. 21st

[Raymond Hall]

Tonight, October 21st, at 6 PM and again at 11 PM, Global Television Montreal will be airing a segment on the Air Canada pilot age 60 dispute. The segment will be aired only on Montreal stations, at least for the time being, but will be posted on its website, www.globalmontreal.com , tomorrow.

The segment will include interviews with three members of the group opposing mandatory retirement at age 60, as well as an interview with the current ACPA President.

[TAWS]

Great....I'll clear my schedule.....

[fish4life]

Why no junior FO's that will seat right seat until age 60?

I'm all for something to explain this but it seems like a bit of a biased report if everyone is against it, it would be nice to have interviews with half the people for it and half the people against it

[Raymond Hall]

The video has now been uploaded to the web. www.globalmontreal.com

Under the logo at the top of the page, in the grey area, immediately below, click on the arrow at the right until the picture of the aircraft with the title "When should pilots retire" comes into view. The video starts after a very brief commercial.

The reporter made one error. He stated that it was too late for Mr. Vilven and Mr. Kelly to return to the job. Not so. Their reinstatement will occur with the release of the Tribunal's decision flowing from their remedy hearing. Apparently, he did not distinguish between the international age limits on pilots-in-command (age 65) and the absence of any limit on non- pilolts-in-command.

[TyrellCorp]

I see that you didn't mention how Vilven and Kelly were offered reinstatement on the Embraer with 777 FO wages. No mention of your response to the offer as well. They would have been making more than the Captain they would have been flying with.

[grosmourn]

Thanks Les. You want to work " another year or two" to do what...make another 200 grand/yr as a 777 capt while i have to wait another 5 years to get an f/o spot on the bus.....thanks buddy! oh wait..i have to pay my dues first, i forgot!

[BLZD1]

Wholly that is only one side of the story!! Bad reporting.

[Understated]

I found the statement of Captain Paul Strachan rather puzzling:

"More than 80% of our membership continues to support their bargain for the retirement provisions at the age of 60."

Where is the support for that proposition? As I recall, when ACPA did its most recent survey of the membership it did not ask whether the pilots supported "mandatory retirement" at age 60. Rather, the question was whether we supported "retirement" at age 60. Who doesn't support the option to retire at age 60? The issue has never been whether pilots should be denied the right to retire at age 60, but whether they should be denied the right to stay past age 60.

Is it not misleading of him to make such a statement? Or does he not understand the difference in the proposition he is putting forward?

A question that could have been asked of him is, "Has the union has considered conducting a survey to determine whether our membership is in favour of other forms of discrimination that are also prohibited, such as discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation?"

In other words, what difference does it make if over 80% of the membership votes in favour of maintaining mandatory retirement at age 60? If discrimination is illegal, it is illegal, the vote results are totally irrelevant, and he is wasting our resources fighting the inevitable.

[bcflyer]

Good lord are you a lawyer as well? Are you really trying to make a point over the lack of one word? The fact is that the majority of pilots who filled in the survey support keeping the retirement age right where it is. Period. Quit trying to muddy the waters by argueing that they didn't use the word "mandatory"

[Understated]

Are you really trying to make a point over the lack of one word?

I don't have to be a lawyer to expect accurate public statements from my elected represenatives. The assertion goes straight to the union's credibility. He is openly stating that over 80% of the pilots polled favour maintaining "mandatory retirement." Either that statement is correct, or it is not correct. He is the President of the union. If the public statement is not correct, there is a serious, serious problem with the union's credibility.

[JayDee]

Are you really trying to make a point over the lack of one word?

I don't have to be a lawyer to expect accurate public statements from my elected represenatives. The assertion goes straight to the union's credibility. He is openly stating that over 80% of the pilots polled favour maintaining "mandatory retirement." Either that statement is correct, or it is not correct. He is the President of the union. If the public statement is not correct, there is a serious, serious problem with the union's credibility.

A union that has no credibility in the first place really doesn't have to worry about losing same.

[tallun123]

France hit by new strikes
GREG KELLER
PARIS— The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 7:26AM EDT
Last updated Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 6:29AM EDT
8 comments Email Print Decrease text size
Increase text size Teachers, mail carriers, bus drivers and other French workers try to shut down France in a showdown with President Nicolas Sarkozy over his government's attempt to raise the retirement age by two years to save money.

The battle over the contested retirement reform has gone on for months, but this week could prove decisive. With the Senate expected to pass the pension reform bill by the end of the week, some unions have upped the ante by declaring open-ended strikes, meaning the walkout that begin on Tuesday could last for days or even weeks. Past walkouts lasted only one day.

More related to this story
•French strike challenges Sarkozy on pension reform
•France raises retirement age
•Transit strikes hit France, London
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Strike stalls Paris Train drivers launched an open-ended strike Monday night, and the work stoppages widened to other sectors on Tuesday. High school students were also joining the fray, with walkouts expected at hundreds of schools Tuesday.

More than 200 street protests were planned throughout the country. Last month, similar demonstrations brought 1 million people onto the streets, according to police estimates, though union organizers insisted turnout was three times as high.

The left-leaning Liberation newspaper ran a headline reading “What if the strike lasted?,” while the conservative Le Figaro ran a story about how strikes at French oil refineries could lead to shortages by the week's end on its front page.

Workers at France's largest refinery overwhelmingly voted to join the strike, bringing the plant to a near standstill. Production Tuesday at Total SA's (TOT-N54.590.150.27%) Gonfreville-l'Orcher refinery in Normandy was “minimal,” and no fuel would enter or leave the refinery until further notice, a union spokesman at the plant said.

With service on suburban trains and the Paris Metro and bus lines slashed by about half, commuters rolled into work on bikes, rollerblades and skateboards. The French capital's free bike racks were empty as many took advantage of the brisk, sunny morning to cycle to work.

Because strikes are frequent in France, commuters have become experts at dealing with transit issues and travellers at Europe's largest train station, Paris' Gare du Nord, appeared to be taking the latest walkout in stride.

“I understand the strikers, I tolerate it,” said Fuad Fazlic, 38, a tailor at French luxury label Chanel, as he rolled his ten-speed bicycle out of the Gare du Nord on his way to work. Mr. Fazlic said the strike hadn't disturbed his morning commute by train from Senlis, a town north of the capital, and with his bike to get around Paris, he wasn't worried about slowdowns on the capital's buses and subways.

Mr. Fazlic said he'd learned his lesson after massive strikes in 1995 brought much of France to a standstill for about two months. “I have been biking to work ever since,” Mr. Fazlic said.

Emmanuel Difom, 40, said he'd had no trouble catching a train from the Charles de Gaulle airport to central Paris. But Mr. Difom, an accountant who'd flown in Tuesday morning from Cameroon, said he was “very worried” about making the next leg of his journey, by train to Strasbourg.

Both Paris' main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, had announced massive cancellations for Tuesday and urged travellers to check with airlines on their flights' status.

President Sarkozy's conservative allies insist there is no choice but to buckle down and accept the reform. Faced with huge budget deficits and sluggish growth, France must get its finances in better order, the insist. Even with the two-year change France would still have among the lowest retirement ages in the developed world.

Unions fear the erosion of the cherished workplace benefit, and say the cost-cutting ax is coming down too hard on workers.

Outside Paris' baricaded Lycee Lamartine high school, striking students said they also opposed the government's retirement reform.

“It's about us, it's about the youth. We don't want to pay for the crisis and to pay for the actions of the big international ratings agencies,” said Victor Grezes, a member of the UNL national union of students.

Mr. Sarkozy's government has backed down from at least two reforms planned in education, opting not to incur students' wrath. Potent student-labour coalitions have brought down many planned government reforms over the years in France.

The Education Ministry predicted Monday that more than one in four elementary and pre-kindergarten teachers would stay home Tuesday, though one union representing those teachers countered that nearly half would.

Mr. Sarkozy's government is all but staking its chances for victory in presidential and legislative elections in 2012 on the pension reform, which the president has called the last major goal of his term. France's European Union partners are keeping watch, as they face their own budget cutbacks and debt woes.

The new nationwide strikes was the fifth since May, including two last month that coincided with protest marches that drew at least one million people into the streets.

The lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, approved the reform last month. The Senate has approved the article on raising the retirement age from 60 to 62, but is still debating the overall reform. The bill also raises the age of eligibility for a full pension from 65 to 67.

Mr. Sarkozy, in a small concession Thursday, offered to allow women born before 1956 and who had more than three children to receive full pensions at 65.

That apparently did little to stem the strike plans.