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Jazz Pilots Receive $5 Million Grant for Upcoming Contract Negotiations

Dépèche transmise le 8 mai 2009 par Business Wire

Jazz Pilots Receive $5 Million Grant for Upcoming Contract Negotiations

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Air Canada Jazz pilots today announced that they will receive a $5 million grant from their international union, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int'l (ALPA), to help them prepare for upcoming contract negotiations with their management.

Capt. John Prater, ALPA’s president, announced the grant at a recent Strength in Unity Rally and Family Awareness event in Toronto, at which more than 130 Jazz pilots and family members were gathered from Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Halifax, and Montreal.

“This grant puts Jazz management on notice that ALPA will reject any attempt to maximize profit on the backs of employees,” Prater said. “We want a new contract, not a strike, but the pilots at Jazz deserve and demand an agreement that reflects their contribution to the airline’s outstanding success.”

ALPA’s Executive Council unanimously approved the $5 million grant from its Major Contingency Fund (MCF). The MCF is ALPA’s “war chest,” providing pilot groups with the necessary resources to respond to threats to their jobs and to the piloting profession. Funds from the grant will pay for strategic preparedness activities.

“Jazz pilots stand solidly behind our highly experienced negotiating team,” said Capt. Brian Shury, chairman of the Jazz unit of ALPA. “In addition, we are working closely with the other Jazz stakeholders and especially with the other labour groups. We learned during the last restructuring process that working together puts us in the strongest possible position to achieve the outcome we all seek--a viable, profitable, and sustainable airline.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing nearly 54,000 pilots at 36 airlines in the United States and Canada, including 1,550 pilots who fly for Jazz. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.