Air Canada talks with most unions on hold as company, unions regroup DAVID PADDON Canadian Press Friday, May 16, 2003 TORONTO (CP) - Cost-cutting talks between Air Canada and its main unions, which have been going on most of the week with the help of an Ontario judge, are on hold for the long weekend, union leaders said Friday. "They're going to start (again) next week," said Gary Fane, who heads the Canadian Auto Workers' transportation division, which has members at both the main Air Canada airline and its Jazz regional subsidiary. The talks, ordered last week by Justice James Farley, began Monday with Justice Warren Winkler - a former labour lawyer - acting as facilitator. Farley, the judge overseeing Air Canada's court-assisted restructuring while under protection from creditors, ordered the talks to help speed up labour negotiations - a crucial part of devising a viable business plan for keeping the money-losing airline alive in the long term. The Montreal-based airline has been seeking $770 million in wage cuts and $400 million in benefit cuts from its workers as part of its plan to restructure, slash operating costs and return to profitability. Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cooke said Friday the company (TSX:AC) wouldn't comment at all on the status of the negotiations, citing a media blackout imposed by Winkler earlier this week. Fane said talks will resume next Wednesday, but other union leaders were less certain about the timing. Don Johnson, president of the union representing 3,400 pilots at the main airline, including Tango and the company's Zip Air subsidiary, said the Air Canada Pilots Association negotiators had held talks Friday. Speaking from his Montreal-area home, Johnson said he had been told that talks with other unions were put on hold but, "as far as I know, we're still meeting and talks are going on with us." Johnson, who isn't directly involved with the talks, said it's still unknown whether Air Canada will ground 40 planes as it announced Wednesday. "My understanding is that number is not firm yet. It could be that high. But it could be less if things in any way pick up for the summertime," Johnson said. "To my knowledge, they have not announced any layoffs of pilots as a result yet." Pam Sachs, president of the union representing 8,300 Air Canada and Zip flight attendants, also said it wasn't clear how many, or which, planes were being grounded. But Sachs said her members - represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees - accept that Air Canada needs to cut surplus employees and that there are about 1,000 flight attendants "who are lining up at the door to leave." "We had negotiated a voluntary separation package in our last collective agreement that allowed 300 people to go. And that was put on hold, it was stopped, because of the CCAA (bankruptcy protection) process," Sachs said. In the meantime, CUPE's Air Canada component, an autonomous unit of Canada's largest union, has had to cut two lawyers and a media spokesman - about half its own staff - because of the high costs of the restructuring process. CUPE flight attendants are also being asked to increase their union dues by half a percentage point to help cover the cost of hiring outside lawyers and financial advisers, Sachs said. Fane would say little about the talks but noted the CAW had made an offer before the airline obtained court protection under the Companies Creditors' Arrangement Act on April 1. "We're still willing to help them. But they have to figure out what their priorities are," Fane said. *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************