Air Canada pilots union says cutback deal, survival at risk OTTAWA (Reuters) =97 Air Canada's pilots union said Monday that a seniority= =20 arbitration ruling is causing so such discontent among its members that=20 they could reject a cost-cutting agreement deemed essential to the survival= =20 of the insolvent airline. The Air Canada Pilots Association told its=20 members to delay their vote on the deal until Thursday, after the union=20 meets with the chairman of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to=20 appeal the seniority decision. The issue first arose three years arose when= =20 Air Canada bought its distressed rival, Canadian Airlines, and tried to=20 merge the two pilots groups. A first ruling on the merged seniority lists=20 was opposed by the former Canadian pilots, who felt they lost too much. A=20 second ruling came down last week, this time causing an uproar among the=20 original Air Canada pilots, who account for about two-thirds of the 3,200=20 pilots. The seniority issue flared up just as the pilots are asked to vote on job=20 cuts and wage rollbacks to help Air Canada emerged from bankruptcy=20 protection without running out of cash. "We don't want our members to vote= =20 in anger," said Capt. Dave Coles, head of a committee representing pilots=20 who flew with Air Canada before the merger with Canadian. "This vote is too= =20 close to count," he told reporters in Ottawa. The seniority lists are=20 central to the pilots' jobs, as they determine who will fly which planes=20 and routes, and therefore their pay scales. Capt. Rob McInnis, head of the committee acting for the former Canadian=20 pilots, said the latest ruling only tips the balance to a fair position. He= =20 said he was confident all the pilots would be responsible and vote for the= =20 tentative agreement, regardless of the dispute over seniority. "It's our=20 view that it's time to put this behind us, that Air Canada has much more=20 serious problems to worry about than scrapping pilots," he said. "There's=20 no point in having a good seniority number and no airline to work for." Air Canada gave its unions until June 30 to ratify tentative agreements on= =20 cost and job cuts as it is running against the clock to lower labor costs=20 by C$1.1 billion. The airline has cut all lease payments to its aircraft=20 lessors since obtaining bankruptcy protection on April 1. Chief executive=20 Robert Milton said revenues are expected to be C$1 billion lower this year= =20 as ticket sales suffers from increased competition amid a global downturn=20 in air travel. *************************************************** 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.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************