April 2024 Conciliation Update
The CANSA bargaining committee met with Nav Canada with the assistance of the FMCS Conciliator for a third time on April 10 and 11. The parties are now at an impasse as conciliation ended on April 12 without any progress towards reaching a fair deal. Federal mediator Robert Orr has been assisting the parties in conciliation and will now take on the role of a mediator in this dispute process.
I am disappointed that after filing for conciliation in early February, the company has not taken our demands for fair wages, staffing practices, scheduling of work and job security seriously. I am very frustrated at the company’s lack of willingness to meet the required pattern by properly valuing CANSA’s input into their five-year plan. It is now apparent to the bargaining committee that Nav Canada has delayed during bargaining to settle with other unions to set a lower pattern in order to devalue our work. This is very disrespectful to the CANSA membership and your bargaining team.
At the beginning of conciliation, Nav Canada told your bargaining team in no uncertain terms that CANSA will not get the pattern set by the other two Unifor unions. They also stated that if they were to give us the current Unifor pattern that it would be the third settlement with significant gains with four other bargaining units still negotiating. It is clear now that Nav Canada is not bargaining with CANSA, but with the remaining unions.
As of now, we are in the 21-day cooling off period, where I remain open to further discussions in hopes of securing a tentative agreement. We will be in a legal strike position starting on May 4, 2024, at 12:01 a.m.
It is my hope that Nav Canada will use the 21-day cooling off period to properly assess your contributions into their five-year training plan and present a fair and honest offer on the table without taking into account how that will affect bargaining with other bargaining units. Investing in their employees should a priority and not be seen as an obstacle to overcome, especially since the Executive Management Committee (EMC) has no issue in investing in themselves.
Moving forward I first want to thank each member who supported the strike mandate. 95% is something to be proud of as it shows that when we really need to pull together, there are no obstacles amongst the membership.
Next, I wanted to let you know that I have submitted our position on the Maintenance of Activities agreement (MOAA) to Nav Canada and am awaiting their agreement. Failure to get an agreement, I will make our submissions to the Labour Board. As soon as I have a decision on the MOAA, I will let you know the results.
I will be setting up calls across the country in the next couple of weeks to update everyone on what information is available and discuss any questions or concerns you may have.
Thank you once again for your support and solidarity.
Please reach out to your Regional Vice President for additional information or questions.
Your continued support will be important in achieving the next collective agreement.
In Solidarity,
James Walker
President CANSA/Unifor 1016