There is a difference between having a voice and having legal bargaining power.

The CCEA is asking you to look at its history and decide what kind of representation you want going forward.

We agree.

For more than 25 years, WestJet has operated with internal employee associations, beginning with PACT and later including CCEA, AEA, TAPS, FAAB and WJPA.

But there is a fundamental difference between an internal employee association and a certified union.

Ask your CCEA Representative

After your CCEA representative meets with management on your behalf:

Are you entitled to see the notes from that meeting?

Can CCEA require WestJet to negotiate your wages, benefits or working conditions?

Can CCEA negotiate enforceable protections around job security and outsourcing?

If WestJet says no, what happens next?

CCEA has no negotiated grievance procedure and no independent arbitration process to resolve workplace disputes.

Without a collective agreement, where does a worker go when talking to management isn't enough?

CCEA representatives may listen, advocate and raise concerns with management.

But CCEA is not your certified bargaining agent under the Canada Labour Code.

With Unifor, workers have the legal right to collectively bargain with WestJet and negotiate a binding collective agreement covering the priorities you identify, including wages, benefits, scheduling, job security, seniority, workload, contracting out and workplace changes.

And a collective agreement provides a grievance and arbitration process to enforce the rights you negotiate.

That is the difference between asking and bargaining.

Look at the record.

Why have more and more WestJetters chosen certified union representation?

Pilots did it.

Flight Attendants did it.

Airport workers did it.

Now 730 Contact Centre workers have the opportunity to decide.

When thousands of jobs at Tier 1 and Tier 2 airports were outsourced, what power did the AEA have to protect that work?

As Contact Centre work moved outside WestJet and was outsourced, what power did CCEA have to negotiate protections for that work?

CCEA says it is about WestJetters supporting WestJetters.

We believe in that too.

With Unifor:

You elect your workplace representatives.

You elect your bargaining committee.

You determine your bargaining priorities.

You vote on your collective agreement.

The difference is that your coworkers don't stand alone when dealing with a major corporation.

Unifor provides professional legal, bargaining, research, pensions and benefits, health and safety, human rights and education resources to support members and their elected representatives.

Unifor also provides extensive worker education so members have the skills to represent coworkers, handle grievances, bargain agreements and become workplace leaders.

WestJetters representing WestJetters, with real resources and legal rights behind them.

WestJet has changed. Your representation should too.

This isn't about whether individual CCEA representatives are good people. Many genuinely want to help their coworkers.

It's about whether an internal employee association has enough power for the WestJet workplace you have today.

Jobs have been outsourced. Work has moved. Departments have been reorganized. Policies have changed. Workers have continually been expected to adapt.

The WestJet of today isn't the WestJet of 1996.

Don't let nostalgia decide what kind of representation you need for the future.

Do you want to keep asking WestJet for change or do you want the legal right to bargain for it?

Beginning Monday, the CIRB will ask:

Do you wish to have Unifor represent you as your bargaining agent in collective bargaining with your employer?

That is the exact ballot question.

VOTE YES FOR UNIFOR

Billy O'Neill
Unifor National Representative, Organizing
416.605.1443
billy.oneill@unifor.org

Lucy Alessio
Unifor National Representative, Organizing
416.998.3189
lucy.alessio@unifor.org