“We are
hopeful we will come to a fair agreement. We expect a healthy
collaboration on behalf of the employer” indicated CUPE
representative, Caroline Bédard. She added “our goal for these negotiations is to raise
the fight attendants’ working conditions to the level of standards
set by the airline industry.”

Last March, approximately 700 flight attendants chose to join CUPE
in a vote conducted by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

Since the vote, the union local has been busy building, training
and organizing. The negotiating committee on the union’s side is
made up of 8 members and at least one comes from each of the
airlines’ five bases: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal and
Québec.

“They decided to have at least
one representative per region in order to facilitate communications
with the rest of the members and keep them up to speed with the
talks” added Caroline Bédard.

Sunwing is a highly profitable company in an industry where
competitors are struggling. Management totes up that they are the
only airline with a profit margin oscillating around the 6% mark,
while their competitors are showing margins closer to the 1% and
1.5%. The airline carrier continues to grow. Sunwing wants to
expand up to 20% to 30% in 2012-2013.

CUPE is Canada’s largest airline union. With workers from Sunwing,
CUPE now represents nearly 10,000 flight attendants at both large
and smaller air carriers including: Air Canada, Air Transat,
CanJet, First Air, Cathay Pacific, CALM Air, Canadian North, and
the ground agents at Porter Airlines in Ottawa.

SOURCE : Canadian Union of Public Employees