Air Canada reaches cost-saving deal with flight attendants Last Updated Wed, 28 May 2003 12:42:52 TORONTO - Air Canada said Wednesday it has now hammered out cost-cutting=20 deals with all of its unions except its pilots. Following marathon=20 negotiations, the company said late Wednesday morning it had reached a=20 tentative deal with its 6,700 flight attendants. Details of the deal with= =20 the flight attendants were not immediately available, but the company said= =20 in a press release that pension benefits will not be affected. Wednesday's= =20 agreement leaves the airline's pilots as the only union yet to agree to a=20 deal. "The pilots' union is presently considering the company's last=20 proposal which is consistent with the cost savings target set by the=20 company and follows the approach taken with other labour groups," the=20 company said. The airline =96 which is trying to cut $770 million from its= =20 annual labour costs after going into bankruptcy protection on April 1 =96=20 struck a deal on Tuesday with its 11,000-member machinists union. The deal will see 1,400 job cuts and is expected to save the company about= =20 $180 million a year. Workers will take a 1.5 per cent pay cut for three=20 years. Employee pension benefits are preserved but workers will give up=20 some vacation time, shift premiums and two holidays. Justice Warrren=20 Winkler, who is acting as a court-appointed facilitator in the talks, had=20 set a deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday for the airline to reach deals with all of= =20 its unions. That deadline was extended to 9 p.m. as the parties continued=20 talking into the evening. Also on Tuesday, Air Canada's Jazz division said= =20 it had negotiated cost-cutting deals with two remaining unions representing= =20 approximately 900 customer service agents, 630 flight attendants, 650=20 maintenance staff and 28 crew schedulers. Coupled with deals reached over= =20 the weekend with its pilots and flight dispatchers, Jazz said it will save= =20 about $110 million a year. On Monday, the airline reached a deal with the= =20 Canadian Auto Workers, which represents about 6,000 customer sales and=20 service agents and crew schedulers at the mainline carrier. The deal with= =20 the CAW will see more than 800 people lose their jobs, while the airline=20 will cuts its labour costs by about $150 million a year. Written by CBC News Online staff *************************************************** 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/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************