Unions seek clarity from Air Canada through court-ordered facilitator STEVE ERWIN Canadian Press Sunday, May 11, 2003 TORONTO (CP) - Five unions will meet with Air Canada in front of a court-ordered facilitator Monday, seeking consensus on how to reduce costs at the airline, and with at least one union hoping the mediator will force the company to offer more clarity on where it's headed in restructuring. "We're interested in bargaining. But we need information that we've not been able to get so far," Richard Nolan, a vice-president for the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says of the Monday talks. "Air Canada is not being forthcoming with a lot of things and it makes it difficult." On Friday, Mr. Justice James Farley of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, ordered the unions to meet with Air Canada and its Jazz and Zip subsidiaries to find a solution to cost-cutting efforts. The meeings are slated to begin early Monday morning at a downtown Toronto hotel. Unions representing nearly 40,000 employees have been asked to help the airline achieve some $770 million in wage and other concessions and about $400 million in benefits and pension reductions. Air Canada - which entered court-ordered protection from creditors in early April - had sought resolutions on such changes by June 30. Farley has ordered Superior Court Justice Warren Winkler to act as a facilitator - likened to an alternative dispute resolution process - with a practical deadline of May 21. Winkler is well-known for presiding over high-profile corporate disputes and has also been in the public eye in the past for approving settlements for people infected by hepatitis C in the tainted blood scandal and for victims of the E. coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ont. Winkler is "a very well-established professional, really well respected, and if he can help the parties, we'll listen to him carefully," says Gary Fane of the Canadian Auto Workers, which represents Air Canada reservation and ticket-counter clerks. Air Canada has sought near-term 10 per cent pay cuts for staff. On Friday, it had a breakthrough with one major labour group - the Air Canada Pilots Association - agreed to take such wages reductions in June and July. The association's agreement with the company is conditional on a vote of members due to be completed by May 23. Nolan wouldn't commit to whether his CUPE members will also agree to the same temporary 10 per cent wage cut ahead of the Monday talks. "We'll have to talk to (the pilots' association) . . . about their decision," Nolan says. Critics have suggested Winkler's involvement creates a court interference in the collective bargaining process. Nolan says it's too early to say whether the facilitator will prove to be a help or a hindrance to reaching deals. The CAW was the only one of Air Canada's main unions to reach a cost-cutting agreement prior to the airline's bankruptcy-court filing. The union committed to finding $65 million in savings for the company, including temporary layoffs for 1,060 employees and the deferral of a 2.5 per cent salary increase that was to take effect April 1. Fane says that because the CAW - which met with Air Canada officials over the weekend - feels it's making progress in its own talks, "we don't know if we need any help" from Winkler. "We have a framework of where we're going to find resolve," Fane said. However, "we welcome any good ideas we can find," he adds, calling the decision to involve a facilitator "probably a smart move by Justice Farley, because in these types of negotiations, the emotions are quite fierce." Air Canada (TSX:AC) hasn't commented about Farley's appointment of Winkler, saying only that it will comply with the order. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************