Where You Stand Determines What You See

The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS.org) headlined their take on it, "Unions set Air Canada flight attendants against each other." David Adelaide began his article by noting, "The corporatist policy of the union bureaucracy -— lining up workers behind rival capitalist interests and against each other -— has led to a fratricidal dispute among Air Canada’s 8,500 flight attendants. As a result, at the very point when Air Canada executives are preparing a new assault on airline workers’ jobs and working conditions, the flight attendants are busy struggling with each other, trying to avoid being the first on the chopping block."

WSWS is saying that, as more fallout continues from the three-year-ago merger of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International, flight attendants (among others) are pressured to leave. WSWS says that the seniority lists are ripe for management manipulation, fomenting workers' dis-ease.

He says, "Flight attendants at Air Canada are represented by the Canadian Union for Public Employees (CUPE). The contentious seniority formula, which was designed and imposed by a CUPE-appointed arbitrator, assigns seniority to flight attendants not based on their years of service at Air Canada and the now defunct Canadian Airlines, but rather on the basis of their relative seniority at their pre-merger employer." That, he says, resulted in a built-in disadvantage for Air Canada FAs, due to Air Can's expansion in the years immediately preceding the merge.

Canadian Press writer Gillian Livingston sees it a different way: "With Air Canada's sale of part of its Aeroplan rewards program to Onex Corp., the airline and the conglomerate are putting aside the bitterness of three years ago when Air Canada thwarted Onex's attempt to merge it with Canadian Airlines." She quotes Calin Rovinescu (right), Air Canada executive vice-president and chairman of Aeroplan: "Business is business."

Even happier is the old rival: "Onex CEO Gerry Schwartz 'knows a good deal when he sees one... Yesterday's enemy is today's friend and partner."

CBC News gave a bit more detail, and another view: "Onex Corp. said Monday it will buy 35 per cent of Air Canada's Aeroplan frequent-flyer rewards plan for $245 million. The deal bolsters Air Canada's bank account as it tries to cope with hard times in the airline industry, while Onex CEO Gerry Schwartz gets into the sector after failing three years ago in his bid to acquire both Air Canada and Canadian Airlines."

The CBC also reminds us, "In May 2001, Air Canada announced it would proceed with its plan to convert Aeroplan into a wholly-owned subsidiary. It also said at the time it hoped to eventually spin it off to let investors grab a piece of it."

FMI: www.aircanada.ca