Episode 54 - July MEC Update

In the latest MEC Video Podcast, MEC Chair, Captain Jacob Astin, and MEC Vice Chair, First Officer Barret Armann, provide various updates on MEC business, surveys and an update from WestJet Flight Attendant President, Alia Hussein.

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Transcript

0:04

All right, good morning everyone. Uh, this is another edition of our WestJet Pilot Podcast. Uh, I'm Jacob Aston, the MEC chair And this is Barrett Hi … the MEC vice chair. Uh, we're filming this July 2nd at the Calgary office, uh, in kind of the building behind the Calgary terminal here, up on the seventh floor. Uh, just to point out, we're on YouTube, Spotify, and Spotify has the full transcription of this, uh, podcast if you want to read, and it also has the audio. So you could watch it, you could listen to it, or you could read it. It's been a little bit over a month since, this feels like a con- confessional, it's been a little bit over a month since our last podcast. Um, we were both on a bit of a holiday for a little bit of that. Um, we have both had flying schedules we both keep current. Yeah. I know you had a flight test done, so you had some sims. I did all of it last month, all together. Uh, I just had a line check yesterday, so I had four days of flying yesterday. Um, I'm going in and out of the thunderstorms in Calgary, which was, uh, all sorts of fun. Um, so we're just in the office now, and while we're here, we thought we'd, uh, just do a quick little update on some of the stuff, uh, going on in our union right now. So I'll just, uh, pass it over to you, Barrett, uh, for the first topic here. Yeah. First topic we're gonna talk about, uh, we're sending out a special update, uh, is attached to this video that all the pilots should read, and definitely spread it with your friends. Uh, it's significant 'cause I've seen, uh, an uptick in transport, accessing medical information, uh, and now, a new questionnaire is coming out. So I just actually had a medical done and was surprised. I was presented with a C-STOP BANG questionnaire about sleep apnea. Wanted to know a little bit more information as to why I would be getting asked these questions now at a medical. But it's not just me, it's everybody. Uh, and what's happening is Transport then, uh, sends you a letter where you are supposed to go and get additional testing, and what's even worse is when this happens to our pilots, uh, their doctors don't know where they can get the tests done. And this is another push into your privacy from Transport Canada. So I would really appreciate if all the pilots read this, uh, special update that's coming out, share it with your friends. Our position is very clear on that, and, uh, the information that you need is in that update. We'll leave it at that for that point. No, thanks, Barrett. Um, we just closed, uh, the second flight deck feedback survey. Um, thank you all that filled that in. Um, all the questions, I, I, I create all the questions on that, and I put that out every bit, 90 days, 90 to 120 days or so is the plan. It's not meant to be kind of a negotiating survey, it's meant to be a survey on, on how guys are feeling about their union, about the company, about everything else. Um, so I very much appreciate, um, all the results from that survey, and I use those results in the union to steer us Uh, going forward further to that, um, we did see from the January the first survey to the June survey, uh, the MEC trust has been in-increasing. Um, the trust in the company management hasn't moved. Um, still the, you know, the lowest, uh, relationship in the, in the entire survey. Uh, one thing we, we-- even though it's not a CA3 negotiation survey, we do see, you know, quite clearly, uh, a lot of pilots wanting to fill in things like the gray area in our contract. All through the contract, all through everything we're doing, there's, uh, you know, a lot of loopholes, a lot of gray, uh, area as well. Um, one thing I already mentioned, uh, pilots want, you know, video, audio, and text, so we're doing a video right now, which has the audio and the text, so that's something we're doing. Um, but one thing was clear from the results that a lot of pilots don't even know we have Telegram channels for the LEC. So we have our MEC Telegram channel. We also have LEC Te-Telegram channels as well. Um, um The satisfaction that pilots have with their reps has-- is going up, um, but not knowing your rep's name isn't the same as having a relationship with them. Um, flying with a couple first officers, uh, yesterday in the last couple days, and I just kind of point out to both of them saying, "Hey, you know, file a DART, talk to your rep. You know, what is-- what are your rep's priorities for CA3? What is your rep's thinking about X, Y, Z?" Um, so I just encourage everybody to reach out to their reps and, and have that conversation and just to make sure that they kinda know what their rep's doing for them. Uh, attend the LEC meetings and, uh, get to know their reps. Yeah, I guess, uh, sort of to follow up on the gray language and loopholes in the contract, yes, there are quite a number. So this morning I was actually able to spend an hour on a grievance meeting with the company, where I met with a whole bunch of MLOs and different people on the management side and our grievance team going through the grievances. And at every step I could see this company is evasive. They work the gray language as best they can to avoid paying our pilots. And so the question I have is if they're doing that to us, why are we not doing the same thing? Because respect and pay is a two-way street. I respect you, you respect me. If you're evasive and you don't wanna pay properly than what's going on on this side. It was quite eye-opening. Uh, I would like to see clearer language in, in this next collective agreement. I think it's important, and I think a lot of the complaints that we get from grievance when we file these is, you know, this should be done. Well, sometimes the language isn't clear, and the company always moves into the cheapest possible format for resolution. So I just wanted to bring that up. It was something that happened today, and I think it's important that the members know, uh, exactly what goes on in these meetings. Uh, further to that, Barrett, um, myself and the negotiating team were down in Washington, uh, all last week. Uh, we spent the week at ALPA's national offices in DC, uh, focusing on bargaining priorities and scope issues. Uh, we sat down with… We had a table of, it must have been 80 to 100 different MECs and bargaining committees, uh, throughout the whole ALPA system, and we talked about all sorts of things, uh, similar contract, uh, fights that they're having and, and how they might, uh, be what we're facing as well at the WestJet property. Um, the assistance we're getting from all the ALPA groups is huge. Uh, the things we're learning from all the ALPA groups is, is, is massive and certainly gonna he- help us going forward, uh, with this negotiation. You know, it's a, it's a big reminder that the WestJet pilots aren't doing this in isolation. Uh, we have a lot of groups doing similar types of things that we can learn best practices from and get assistance from. Um, so we appreciate every carrier that helps us- Yeah … uh, as we start to ramp up into our next round of negotiations. So yeah, further to that, we actually do have a special guest here today, uh, Alia Hussein. She is the president of the flight attendants. Good morning. Hey. Good to see you. How are- Good to see you. Good to see you guys as well. Thanks for having me. So give us a little update on how things are going. Well, they're going. We're in conciliation, and that ends on July 11th, and which will put us into our 21-day cooling off period, and that will lead to, uh, potential strike action on August 2nd. Okay. And I know we talked a little bit, I think yesterday or the day before, about how we can support. I think it's super important that when the pilots get on board the airplane, they are, uh, supportive of the flight attendants. Let them know that they are there to support them and do everything we can.'Cause at the end of the day, we all work together. We do, and that would be really appreciated. Our membership is out there, uh, guest facing, and as we put out more and more information, there'll be more questions asked of our members. And of course, working as a team on board, any reassurance, support we can receive from our pilots will be greatly appreciated. Because when you guys went out, uh, during CA2 and had your negotiations back then, our flight crew was there. Our flight- our members were there to support you folks. And if pilots wanna know more about what's going on in the Flight Attendant Group, where would they go? They would go either to WestJet Component on any of our social media, Instagram or, uh, Facebook. If not there, they can go to westjetcomponent.ca where we have live updates occurring daily, so you'll get the most up-to-date information on where we're at, what's happening, if there's member engagement opportunities, things like an informational picket, anything of that nature. It's updating live consistently, so that's where you'll get all that information. Perfect, we'll be there. And I also saw today a new website. Yeah, we just launched, uh, lessjet.ca. Lessjet.ca. Yeah. So to learn more about that, check it out. I will definitely check it out. I'm glad to see that, uh, you're standing tall, and let's end this unpaid work. I'm sick of seeing people not getting paid- Yeah … for their hard work. Yeah, so are we. So we're looking forward- Yeah … to ending unpaid work and making strides, uh, on behalf of the 19,000- Good … some odd flight attendants in Canada Let's make them pay. Absolutely. Thanks for coming by. Thank you both for your support. All the time. Take care. You too. Okay, further to what Alia was saying, um, other carriers in ALPA's system is go- are going through, uh, bargaining cycle updates. Uh, just some of the carriers going through that, uh, Flair pilots have reached a tentative agreement. Uh, the same with the Cargo Jet pilots have also landed a, a TA. Uh, the Canadian North pilots have ratified their new agreement, uh, as well as the FedEx pilots have also ratified their new agreement. Um, some more proof that ALPA network is closing out bargaining cycles. Good momentum as we push into CA3. Perfect. Uh, quick chat about communications and the Telegram channels. Uh, you know, stuff like this Transport Canada medical we're sending out as like a special update or, uh, information that's timely and important and we need to get it out to the membership quickly. Uh, we do like to use the Telegram channels, but not everybody is subscribed. So I think it's really important for people to subscribe to the Telegram channels. We also publish the Did You Knows. Uh, there have been some changes recently in the type of Did You Knows that come out. Uh, so I think it's important that everybody gets on board with those. Uh, the LECs also have channels, and all of these links are in, uh, our communications that go out, uh, usually biweekly or, uh, monthly, depending on what we've got to say. Um, a couple things to add there. Um, and it's not the all bases chat or the- Yes … the barbecue chat and all those, which are, which are important for pilots to be able to discuss issues, uh, freely amongst themselves. But these channels are only one way, so they don't spam people. You just, it, it, it's like you sign up for Telegram, you can subscribe to these channels and only get communication from your MEC or LEC. Um, so that's just something I thought I'd mention. Um, if you're looking for any of the links, uh, the MEC channel is at the bottom of all the MEC update emails, and the LEC channels are at dart.alpa.org. We'll show all the LEC 230, you know, 2234s, all the different LEC channels will be there. Um, last but not least, uh, the second negotiate survey is open. So as we communicated, uh, a couple times now for reminders through the email and Telegram, uh, it's now open, so that's closing on July 8th. So that is going to be basically our final big survey that we're planning to do right now for the negotiation cycle. We could have some smaller surveys in the fall, just drilling down into more specific items. Uh, but for now, that's kind of most of what we're putting out. Um, so please everybody do fill that out. Um, we've also created that little leaderboard. You've seen them in Telegram, and we put out an email, um, reminder as well. So that's the percentage of pilots in the base that have done the survey. So we're just trying to kind of have some friendly competition between the bases so everybody can kind of do their survey. Um- One quick thing to add to that, because I did see that leaderboard of like who's who and, you know, who's filling out the survey. Uh, I would kinda like to remind people that, you know, I see-- I don't comment on the All Bases chat, but I see a lot of chatting on the All Bases chat. And I just wanna make sure that everybody that's chatting on the All Bases chat has filled in the survey. Because I can chat on the All Bases chat, but if I don't say anything, then it's not gonna get fixed. So please fill out the survey and give us the direction for this next collective agreement. I think that's a really good point. Um, I'd add that, you know, I'm kinda, as you know, Barrett, I'm a little data-focused. Um, so I'm gonna look at the data, and I'm gonna use- Yeah … using that data to drive what I do and the mandates that, that, that we all set. Um, just one thing to point out, um, the survey creates a whole bunch of data, what the pilots are looking to do and n- looking to get from CA3. Um, the reps then use that data and then create the overall mandate that is given to the Negotiates Committee. So the mandate is set from the survey data from your reps. But again, I would encourage everybody to reach out to their rep and make sure their voices are heard through LEC meetings and direct contact, and also doing the survey of course, right? All of these are very, uh, very important as we go into CA3 negotiations. So I wanna thank everybody for, uh, watching the latest YouTube, um, video that we put out. We're gonna try to do them as much as possible, uh, as Barrett and I, and Vignesh and, and our SMEs get together more and more. And, uh, appreciate everything you guys do safely online. Thank you very much. Thanks.