Unity in Action
The membership has spoken loud and clear. We are engaged and unified with 79.6% of our members saying NO to this MOA with an incredible voter turnout of 93.3%. This is solidarity in action. To everyone who voted and engaged with their fellow colleagues let this moment of pride wash over you. Do not forget this feeling because this is only the beginning of us realizing we are the tide that needs to start rising and rising. This proposed MOA from ACPA was clearly not good enough. Our recently recalled furloughs deserve more, our pilots currently on flat pay deserve more and our pilots with longevity deserve more. All of our pilots deserve better! It is not the time for permanent concessions, it is the time for permanent gains.
The fact that this agreement was even brought to our membership points to the systemic failure of ACPA as the Association representing our pilots. This Association has proven itself to be completely out of touch with the true desires of our membership. Yes, bargaining is an absolute priority for our members, but not like this - not the way that ACPA currently bargains. It is time to admit that our Association is broken and it can not deliver the results our pilots expect. We have so many great volunteers working for our membership and their talents are being squandered in an environment where pilots do not come first. Process comes first and that process is clearly broken.
Our pilots took a stand today and today will go down in the history books of Canadian aviation. We finally started looking past ourselves and stopped thinking short term. We started holding the line on our Collective Agreement. That truly is something to be proud of. Of course we want our Jazz colleagues to join us here if they choose to do so but we will not bargain for their pilot group and remove their bargaining leverage.
Unity needs to be more than just a word. Unity within our pilot group and within the Canadian pilot profession is achievable. By voting No to this agreement, our pilot group has made sure of that. Collectively, we have sent a very clear message to our union and to all of our fellow professional aviators. We will not take concessions, we do deserve more and we will not continue to harm the careers of fellow professional pilots in this industry. The rising tide lifts all boats and our pilot group knows that we must be that unstoppable tide to reverse the trend of lower wages and reduced working conditions. The buck stops here - with us. Well done!