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The Conservative Party of Canada: too White, too Anglo, too
Protestant, too Male, too Alberta-centric,
too Americanized to ever carve a majority government out of vote rich,
economically progressive, socially liberal Quebec and Ontario. Only a
Red Tory leader from Quebec or Ontario will allow the Conservative
Party of Canada to preside over a secure majority government. The
redneck, populist, right-wing, knee jerk reactionary, anti-bilingual,
anti-multiculturalism, anti-immigration, anti-women's rights, anti-gay
rights,
tax hating, gun loving, anti-social programs, anti-trade union, anti-
minimum wage, racist, sexist, bigoted,
homophobic, misogynistic, bible thumping, American ass kissing, Israel
worshipping, Islamophobic,
anti-Roman Catholic, anti-Francophone, Evangelical Protestant
supremacist, White Anglo Chauvinist,
Stockwell Day/Preston Manning, Reform Party/Canadian Alliance, pickup
truck driving, blue collar,
uneducated, untraveled, unenlightened, Western Canadian, trailer trash
crap has to be completely
rooted out beforehand.

Ottawa won't grant Air Canada layoff waiver
Jul 25, 2008 07:22 PM
Ross Marowits
THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL–Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has rejected
Air Canada's request for a waiver that would have allowed the airline
to lay off employees Nov. 1 without first setting up a joint union-
company committee to examine ways to ease the impact of the cuts.

"There weren't sufficient grounds to grant a waiver because their
(collective agreement) was not more than what we have in our labour
code about our entitlements," Blackburn said in an interview Friday.

The minister has offered the airline and the union access to mediators
and instructed officials to monitor the situation to ensure that any
affected Air Canada employees receive entitlements such as severance
and termination pay under the Canada Labour Code.

Under the Canada Labour Code, the airline must create a joint
committee with employees to try to minimize the impact of the Montreal-
based carrier's planned streamlining of about 2,000 jobs, including
more than 600 flight attendants, from its 24,000-employee workforce.

In a letter to Air Canada, Blackburn urged the country's largest
airline to include all employees who may experience job loss on the
joint planning committee, even if they aren't covered by the group
termination provisions of the labour code.

The minister conceded his decision may not delay the planned layoffs.

"As Minister of Labour, I don't intervene in the private sector
decisions. What I have to be sure is that everything is covered by the
Canada Labour Code is there to protect employees."

Air Canada acknowledged Friday that the minister's decision affects
all three unions that represent flight attendants, machinists and
service agents who face layoffs as a result of its June 17 decision to
trim capacity by seven per cent and lay off up to 2,000 workers.

Airline spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said the airline's goal has never
been to avoid consultation about mitigation efforts with its unions.

"It has always been the company's objective to proceed with mitigation
discussions as quickly as possible for the sake of affected
employees," she said. "The only question was whether those talks take
place within the framework of our collective agreement or the Labour
Code."

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the flight
attendants, said it was pleased with the minister's decision, but was
unclear about what impact it would ultimately have on the timing and
size of layoffs.

"It's one step in a very large fight that we have with the employer,"
CUPE national representative Daniela Scarpelli said in an interview.

The cuts by Canada's biggest airline reflect sharply rising costs for
jet fuel that have affected most of the world's carriers and forced
tens of thousands of job cuts and significant capacity reductions
throughout the industry.

As part of Air Canada's cuts, the airline plans to close flight
attendant bases in Halifax and Winnipeg and eliminate 632 flight
attendant jobs by Nov. 1. The cuts will leave bases in Vancouver,
Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.

The union contends that Air Canada hasn't provided proper notice for
the layoff of all employees, since the base closures affecting 332
flight attendants were only announced July 9. The airline says notice
of the entire package of layoffs was provided June 17.

CUPE plans rallies at Air Canada bases across the country Monday
against the closures to pressure Air Canada to stop the layoffs.

"These drastic measures don't make sense," said Lesley Swann,
president of CUPE's Air Canada bargaining unit, which represents 7,200
flight attendants.

"There's no justification for the closures, and cutting attendants is
only going to reduce the company's capacity to provide passengers with
quality services."

Air Canada's shares lost 14 cents, or 2.71 per cent Friday to close at
$5.02 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

http://www.thestar.com/article/467605