As the Airline Employee Association (AEA) begins holding meetings at airports across Canada this month, it is worth remembering all of the times the AEA has failed to stand up for you and your co-workers.

Just last week, WestJet dropped a new benefits package with no warning. The AEA was nowhere to be seen. A real union would have represented your interests when the employer came looking for cuts.

It was the same with the new uniform policy – like the benefits, dropped out of nowhere with no warning and no input from those forced to live and work within the new dress code.

When the new wage rates were announced two months ago, the rates not only came in late, but were very disappointing. Worse, you were given no idea what your wages will be next year. With a union, wages are negotiated with each round of collective bargaining, with rates set for the life of each collective agreement. This gives you a level of stability and predictability that the AEA can never offer.

That’s because Unifor is a real union, and exactly what WestJet frontline workers deserve - just like flight attendants, pilots and dispatchers, who have all joined unions and are in the process of negotiating their first collective agreements.

The AEA will try to tell you that you do not need a real union. The truth is that the AEA has no real strength or voice in the workplace, and cannot hold the employer to account if it does not act fairly or tries to change your working conditions arbitrarily.

The recent benefits, uniform and wage announcement are proof of that.

The fact is that while the AEA is a creation of the employer, with a membership limited only to workers at WestJet and led by people beholden to management, a Unifor bargaining unit is led by democratically elected rank and file members and backed up by the largest private sector union in Canada.

As predictable as it is disappointing, the AEA is taking the employer’s side during this organizing drive.

AEA is simply wrong when it says that once a bargaining unit is certified and contract talks begin, we start from scratch and “everything is on the table.” In fact, under the freeze provision, contract talks start from where you are now and build from there.

AEA says you will pay high union dues. In fact, your dues are set by a vote of the membership, and cannot be change without a majority vote of the membership. As well, all dues are tax deductible.

AEA claims that compensation and work-life flexibility provisions are “the same, if not better” than those at unionized workplaces. In fact, Unifor airline members have the best working conditions in the country. Several of our Air Canada members are assisting in the organizing drive. Ask them.

AEA thinks that a union only has a seat at the table when it comes time to bargain a contract. In fact, Unifor is in the workplace every day representing the members’ interests, and has legal standing in the workplace that AEA does not.

Don’t get stuck in a company union while workers in the rest of the company are gaining a real voice in the workplace. Stay informed, and sign a Unifor card so you can have a voice, too.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact one of us.

Ontario
Billy O'Neill, Unifor
[email protected] | 416-605-1443

Quebec
Ada Zampini, Unifor
[email protected] | 514-701-6227

Prairies
Bruce Fafard, Unifor
[email protected] | 587-341-0945

British Columbia
Simon Lau, Unifor
[email protected] | 778-928-9630

Atlantic
Patrick Murray, Unifor
[email protected] | 506-850-7996